On January 12, 2009 Google Inc. posted a very important blog post about reviewing their business operations in China. In 2006 Google.cn went live in attempt to increase access of information for people in China. However, the Chinese Government censored a large amount of information on Google.cn. Until now, Google allowed this type of censorship.
In December of 2009 a highly sophisticated cyber attack on Google had originated from China. Google launched an investigation for these cyber attacks. During the investigation, they found evidence that suggested the goal of the attacks were to access control over Gmail accounts owned by Chinese human rights activists. After further review, only two Gmail accounts were accessed by third parties. Only the accounts profile information and subject line were read, the content of the actual emails were left untouched. Because of this problem, Google has decided they will no longer censor the results for Google.cn.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has come out strong in defense of Google’s threat to pull out of China unless Beijing permitted it to “operate an unfiltered search engine”.
However, a new report from Fox News has suggested that Google is in “delicate” talks with the Chinese Government about trying to keep business open in China. The main business would be the new Google phones, advertising sales team, and its research center.
After Google’s decisions, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmar has announced they will continue censoring information for the Chinese Government. In an interview with ABC Bill Gates stated that China’s censorship is“very limited”. A large number of the Chinese media supported Mr. Gates statements.
It will be very interesting to see how this situation will play out in the next few months.
