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Google Halts Censorship of China Search Results

by Terrence O'Brien on March 22, 2010 at 04:55 PM

Google announced today that it has officially stopped censoring search results in China. Following some rather damning evidence that the Chinese government was, in some regard, behind the December attacks on Google and 30 other companies, the search giant took a stand against the pseudo-communist regime. Now, after months of seemingly pointless talks, Google has shut down its Google.cn servers, and has begun directing all traffic to the uncensored Google.com.hk.

The Hong Kong-based servers are (for now) not blocked by China, and have been updated to offer results in both traditional and simplified Chinese. China made clear to Google that allowing government censorship was a legal requirement for operating in the country, so Google merely shipped the heavy lifting out to Hong Kong, where the company can operate with much greater freedom.

Of course, at any moment, the Chinese government could simply choose to block Google.com.hk, and will likely do so in the very near future. You can keep tabs on Google services in China by visiting this page.

Google ended its announcement with what seemed like both a plea and a threat. The statement explained that the decision to cut ties with China was driven by executives in the U.S., and insisted that none of Google's Chinese employees should or could be held responsible. In addition, the statement indicated that Google would continue to employ R&D labs and sales teams in the country -- as long as the Chinese government took no further action against the company or its employees.

Stay tuned, as it's safe to assume this saga is not over yet. [From: Official Google Blog]

Tags: censorship, china, google, googlechina, top

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