Tech Mania

China Condemns Decision made By Google To Lift Censorship

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 10:29 AM PDT

In lieu of my previous post regarding Google Censoring China,China has now said Google’s move to stop censoring search results is “totally wrong” and accused it of breaking a promise made when it launched in China. The US giant is redirecting users in mainland China to its unrestricted Hong Kong site, although Chinese firewalls mean results still come back censored. Beijing said the decision should not affect ties with Washington.

Google threatened to leave the Chinese market completely this year decision to be given by April 10th, after cyber attacks were traced back to China. It means one of the world’s most prominent corporations is saying it is no longer willing to co-operate in China’s censorship of the internet, a BBC news corespondent said.The White House said it was “disappointed” that Google and China had not been able to resolve their differences.

A BBC search of google.cn on Tuesday using the word “Tiananmen” brought up results but the words “Dalai Lama” returned messages like “problem loading page” and “the connection was reset”.Google’s move effectively to shut its mainland Chinese search service, google.cn, is a major blow to China’s international image, the BBC’s Damian Grammaticas reports from Beijing.

china official 300x206 China Condemns Decision made By Google To Lift Censorship

Earlier an official in the Chinese government office which oversees the internet said: “Google has violated its written promise it made when entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its searching service and blaming China in insinuation for alleged hacker attacks.

“This is totally wrong. We’re uncompromisingly opposed to the politicisation of commercial issues, and express our discontent and indignation to Google for its unreasonable accusations and conducts,” the unnamed official was quoted as saying by Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

“Any company entering China should abide by Chinese laws,” he said. “Chinese internet users will have no regrets if Google withdraws.” Edward Yu, chief executive of Analysys International, a Beijing-based research firm specialising in technology issues, said he did not believe Google’s rerouting was sustainable. “The thing that makes the government unhappy is this kind of gesture,” he said. “They may set up barriers against Google.”

“I think it was inevitable though,” Chen Wen, 28, told Reuters. “The government was never going to compromise on filtering. China needs this company. It’s a great loss for the country.” You Chuanbo, 25, predicted the government would “just end up blocking access to all of Google”.

Announcing the decision, Google’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, said that providing uncensored searches through the Hong Kong-based google.com.hk website was “entirely legal” and would “meaningfully increase access to information for people in China”.

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