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Google 'No Longer Willing to Continue Censoring' Search Results in China

by Terrence O'Brien on January 13, 2010 at 10:50 AM

Google Decides to Stop Censoring Search Results in China
When Google launched its service in China back in 2006, the search giant came under intense criticism for caving to government demands to filter and censor search results. Google originally defended its decision by saying that the benefits of granting access to a wealth of information outweighed the the company's discomfort with being forced to censor the results. But something has changed.

Google announced late yesterday that it would no longer capitulate to the Chinese government's censorship, and that, as a result, it may be forced to close down Google.cn. According to a post on the Official Google Blog, the company, and some of its customers' accounts, have been the targets of ongoing cyber attacks, which appear to have primarily targeted Chinese human rights activists. According to Google, government efforts to monitor the online activities of its citizens, along with attempts to stifle free speech in the country (in particular leading up to the Olympics), has led the search giant to decide it is "no longer willing to continue censoring... results on Google.cn."

Of course, it's safe to assume that there are other motives here as well. Despite compromising its "do no evil" ethics, Google failed to dominate the Chinese market. The costs, both financial and to its global reputation, may simply have no longer been worth keeping Google.cn running. TechCrunch's Sarah Lacy is under the impression that this was more about Google looking for an excuse to cut its losses.

Whatever the actual reason for Google's decision, the results are the same. Google has drawn attention to the Chinese government's continued flouting of international law and its abysmal human rights record, which is always a good thing. [From: Official Google Blog]

Tags: censorship, china, google, google.cn, human rights, HumanRights, security, surveillance

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