Google on Chinese Censorship

**CountArach** · 01-13-2010, 13:12

We launched Google.cn in January 2006 in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results. At the time we made clear that "we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services. If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China."

These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

The decision to review our business operations in China has been incredibly hard, and we know that it will have potentially far-reaching consequences. We want to make clear that this move was driven by our executives in the United States, without the knowledge or involvement of our employees in China who have worked incredibly hard to make Google.cn the success it is today. We are committed to working responsibly to resolve the very difficult issues raised.

And the Chinese response:

Another person reports that all the Chinese Internet portals have been told by authorities that they're only allowed to use Xinhua News Agency and People's Daily reports on the subject - they're not allowed to use reports from other sources, and they should not feature today's news about Google on the front pages of their sites.

Well done Google - living up to their motto of "Don't be evil" in a country where this great evil is being perpetrated. Hopefully this will get some more Chinese people thinking about what their government is doing to their access to information.

**KukriKhan** · 01-13-2010, 15:03

Well, the seed (of freely-flowing info) has been planted. It reminds me of 12-15 years ago, when computers were still a minority hobby, and only in 25% of US homes. Back then most "casual", non-tech folks signed up with AOL, which censored content pretty heavily. After a year or so of living in AOL's "Walled Garden", people would gradually become aware that there was more "out there", and developed a thirst for it.

AOL was not the government (though there were some conspiracy theories about that), but the effect was similar, I think: people will naturally tend to seek and find more info, including info that contradicts what they've been fed.

China will come along. Kicking and screaming maybe; but it will come along. Its citizens will demand it, having had a taste.

**Beskar** · 01-13-2010, 15:50

Only problem of the internet, it can end up with too much information and the majority of it is incorrect.

**Vladimir** · 01-13-2010, 17:11

Originally Posted by KukriKhan

Well, the seed (of freely-flowing info) has been planted. It reminds me of 12-15 years ago, when computers were still a minority hobby, and only in 25% of US homes. Back then most "casual", non-tech folks signed up with AOL, which censored content pretty heavily. After a year or so of living in AOL's "Walled Garden", people would gradually become aware that there was more "out there", and developed a thirst for it.

AOL was not the government (though there were some conspiracy theories about that), but the effect was similar, I think: people will naturally tend to seek and find more info, including info that contradicts what they've been fed.

China will come along. Kicking and screaming maybe; but it will come along. Its citizens will demand it, having had a taste.

I wish this were true because it implies an organized, perhaps governmental, effort. In the end I doubt there is the will for such an ambitious program.

I view Google's statement as a "strongly worded letter" and nothing more. In the end the status quo will continue unabated.

**Ronin** · 01-13-2010, 17:30

a curious point comes up when one actually reads the google blog entry about this situation.

First, this attack was not just on Google. As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses--including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors--have been similarly targeted. We are currently in the process of notifying those companies, and we are also working with the relevant U.S. authorities.

Second, we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective. Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves.

Note that the issue with censorship of human rights activists is point number 2.....point number 1 is corporate interest.....

Google very publicly stated it's "do no harm" rule...but they were the ones that agreed to the chinese rules in the first place.

this strikes me more as a company pissed off that it's IT structure was compromised and using the anti-censorship angle to garner some positive press.

**Tellos Athenaios** · 01-13-2010, 19:33

Originally Posted by Ronin

a curious point comes up when one actually reads the google blog entry about this situation.

Note that the issue with censorship of human rights activists is point number 2.....point number 1 is corporate interest.....

But that involves reading. And in case your understanding of how one builds an argument is vastly different from mine; all I saw in those 2 paragraphs were the reasons why Google considers the attack to haver originated/ordered from within Chinese government [basically their argument is that it looks like it was one party from within China harvesting all these sources at once; and the only the only party which would be interested in doing so would be (connected to) the Chinese intelligence services] -- and not some other individual hackers or organizations.

There is actually nothing about censorship per se; it is all about what they perceive as breach of contract/violation of trust [the implied argument being that Google and Chinese government had settled on a modus operandi that was now side-stepped by China].

**Aemilius Paulus** · 01-14-2010, 00:01

Hmm, too bad for Google and the Chinese people. I have seen this in the news a few days ago and was shocked. What sort of sane for-profit corporation discard a market of the size of China? Surely they are not pretending to be moral?

Supposing I was a Chinese national, I would be saddened by this, as Google provides far more relevant results than any other search engine I have tried. Gmail is just about the best mail I have ever tried, and nearly all of my computer enthusiast friends concede on this point. Now, Google Shopping is rubbish, but that is another discussion. For the sake of brevity, Google provides superb service to any-one with a computer and Internet. I feel that Google was correct in their initial statements, that the benefits outweighed the moral implications.

Not to mention, numerous other countries censor results. In Arab countries, some Google results are censored, although AFAIK, the censorship is by the government authorities and not Google itself. Surely there is something else behind this declaration of the cessation of service? Or perhaps Google is not revealing the full scale of the alleged "attacks"?

**Louis VI the Fat** · 01-15-2010, 00:05

Originally Posted by Ronin

Note that the issue with censorship of human rights activists is point number 2.....point number 1 is corporate interest.....

Google very publicly stated it's "do no harm" rule...but they were the ones that agreed to the chinese rules in the first place.

this strikes me more as a company pissed off that it's IT structure was compromised and using the anti-censorship angle to garner some positive press.

I think this is where it's at. The cyber-attacked againts Google traces back to a single adress of the Chinese state. Incredible. Not a surprise, in light of China's relentless espionage and attacks on Western firms, but still shocking.

China is not a reliable trade partner. It is a dictatorship in open non-military warfare with the rest of the world.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

**Tellos Athenaios** · 01-15-2010, 01:54

Links for those interested in the how: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01...ault_followup/, http://siblog.mcafee.com/cto/operati...google-others/

**drone** · 01-13-2010, 17:31

Originally Posted by CountArach

Well done Google - living up to their motto of "Don't be evil" in a country where this great evil is being perpetrated. Hopefully this will get some more Chinese people thinking about what their government is doing to their access to information.

I don't know about that. They have not really had any problem being "evil" up to this point in China, the market is too big. This is more of a response to what Google sees as a coordinated attack by the Chinese government to hack Google services. Google seems to have made great concessions to the Chinese government to operate there, and have still been abused, so they are taking their ball and going home (or threatening it, anyway).

**Crazed Rabbit** · 01-13-2010, 19:24

Good for them - if they go through with it.

Though as mentioned, it could just be google getting angry and trying to seem noble, while getting burnt by the demon they lay down with.

Funny how it's not until their infrastructure is threatened that they seem to care about censorship in China.

CR