Google to end censorship in China over cyber attacks

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Google to end censorship in China over cyber attacks

Decision from world's leading search engine comes amid a clampdown on the internet in China over the last year

Google challenge to China over censorship


Google, the world's leading search engine, has thrown down the gauntlet to China by saying it is no longer willing to censor search results on its Chinese service.

The internet giant said the decision followed a cyber attack it believes was aimed at gathering information on Chinese human rights activists.

The move follows a clampdown on the internet in China over the last year, which has seen sites and social networking services hosted overseas blocked – including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube – and the closure of many sites at home. Chinese authorities *criticised Google for supplying "vulgar" content in results.

Google acknowledged that the decision "may well mean" the closure of Google.cn and its offices in China.

That is an understatement, given that it had to agree to censor sensitive material – such as details of human rights groups and references to the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989 – to launch Google.cn.

Google was in contact with the US state department before its announcement. Spokesman PJ Crowley said: "Every nation has an obligation, regardless of the origin of malicious cyber activities, to keep its part of the network secure.

"That includes China. Every nation should criminalise malicious activities on computer networks."

In a post on the official Google Blog, the company outlined a "highly sophisticated and targeted" attack in December which it believes affected at least 20 other firms: "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."

Hillary Clinton stepped into the debate, urging Beijing to respond to Google's announcement.

The US secretary of state said in a statement: "We have been briefed by Google on these allegations, which raise very serious concerns and questions. We look to the Chinese government for an explanation."

She added: "The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy."

Human Rights Watch praised the decision and urged other firms to follow suit in challenging censorship. "A transnational attack on privacy is chilling, and Google's response sets a great example," said Arvind Ganesan, director of the group's corporations and human rights programme.

Google said the cyber attack originated from China and that its intellectual property was stolen, but that evidence suggested a primary goal was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

Two accounts were accessed but Google believed only account information and subject lines were obtained. It is notifying the other targeted companies and working with US authorities.

Its investigation had shown that, separately, the accounts of dozens of US-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appeared to have been routinely accessed by third parties.

The company added that it was sharing the information not just because of the security and human rights implications "but because this information goes to the heart of a much bigger global debate about freedom of speech".

Acknowledging the potential consequences, it stressed: "This move was driven by our executives in the United States, without the knowledge or involvement of our employees in China."

The message, headlined "A New Approach to China" and signed by David Drummond, senior vice-president of corporate development and chief legal officer, said the company launched Google.cn in 2006 in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China "outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results".

At the time Google promised to monitor conditions in China and reconsider its approach if necessary.

But Evgeny Morozov, an expert on the political effects of the internet and a Yahoo fellow at Georgetown University, questioned why Google had made the decision after four years.

"They knew pretty well what they were getting into. Now it seems they are playing the innocence card ... It's like they thought they were dealing with the government of Switzerland and suddenly realised it was China," he said.

Morozov said it was hard to see the logical connection between the security of human rights activists and Google's self-censorship, particularly given that the firm had chosen not to comment on whom it believed responsible for the hacking. It had become easier for "pretty much anyone" to launch cyber attacks in the last few years, he added.

He added that it could have been damaging for Google if news of the breach had emerged later and it appeared the company had done nothing.

Google has only a third of the search-engine market in China, which is dominated by the Chinese giant Baidu. Although its revenues have continued to rise, many analysts believed it was finding business hard going. In June Google suffered intensive disruption to search functions and Gmail for over an hour, after authorities told it to scale back search functions.

China has the world's largest internet population.

Rebecca MacKinnon, an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong's Journalism and Media Studies Centre, said her research showed Google had censored less than Baidu. Google's decision "certainly sets an example in terms of a company trying to do what's best for the user and not just whatever increases the profit margins", she added.

Nart Villeneuve, research fellow at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab – which examines the exercise of political power in cyberspace – said the decision to give such a full account of the attacks and link it to human rights issues was unprecedented.

Google's decision to launch the censored service was highly controversial at the time. It was attacked by campaigners and accused of "sickening collaboration" in a Congressional hearing.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry referred the Guardian to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. But an employee at MIIT said it was not responsible for handling the query, because it dealt with only the technical side of internet issues. He added that many other departments dealt with other aspects of internet management, but added that he did not know who the Guardian should contact in this instance.



Tania Branigan in Beijing
The Guardian, Wednesday 13 January 2010
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010
 
Google pulls out of China: what the bloggers are saying

China's bloggers support Google's decision to challenge censors but some criticise its tactics

Chinese bulletin boards and microblogs have been buzzing all day with chatter about Google's announcement. The vast majority either supported Google's decision to challenge the censors or expressed regret at the possible loss of a cherished search engine, but there was also criticism of the US firm's business tactics.

Here is a translation of selected posts on the Sina microblog, which is inside the Great Fire Wall:

"Just heard Google may quit China. I couldn't believe it. Google has become a trusted friend. Whenever I've got a question I refer to it. You might say I grew up with Google. I hope this unexpected news is not true. If Google really gives up on the Chinese market, it will be a big loss for Chinese netizens." Celilia Jing.

"Google quitting China is a case of survival of the fittest. If you can't hack it, then you are knocked out. Baidu must be laughing secretly. Although they have also just been attacked by hackers, they can now have a bigger share of the cake because Google is gone." Liangjian99.

"Do Chinese people really need Google so much? It's only a symbol. Don't be so stupid and arouse the public feeling." Da Jiang

"Google can't leave China! Since last year, I have been using so many of its products for work. How can it leave? I feel sad, but I am practical. I will try to find alternative software so that I don't need to climb over the firewall to use the English version." yaolaner.

"China is a country governed by the rule of law. As long as you are in China you must obey Chinese law and be supervised by the government. Do not threaten China. I think that is the bottom line and if they cannot manage that, then I won't use Google in the future. weiwoguyan.

On the Twittersphere, which is available in China only to those who are willing and able to get around the Great Fire Wall, Google was widely applauded, though there was some cynicism about its business motives.

"Technology genius, you can never use your talent in a big intranet monitored by bureaucrats. You can only do nothing or do evil. Please go abroad, for the sake of China's future!" @mranti.

"Compared with Yahoo's past behaviour, such as [former Yahoo boss] Yang Zhiyuan handing over dissidents' email details, Google statement is very manly. How can anyone not love Google!" @newsinchina


Jonathan Watts
Wednesday 13 January 2010 10.31 GMT
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010



US asks China to explain Google hacking claims

Google sends a shockwave through Chinese internet

Google strikes a blow to China's Great Firewall

...and many more articles on the subject over on the Guardian website
 
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Has anyone spoken with any Chinese friends regarding this?

I emailed a friend when the story broke yesterday and he didn't really care at all. It's only one person that I've spoken with so far, I wonder what the general consensus is.
 
Has anyone spoken with any Chinese friends regarding this?

I emailed a friend when the story broke yesterday and he didn't really care at all. It's only one person that I've spoken with so far, I wonder what the general consensus is.

It will be interesting to see how this one pans out!
I feel sorry for the people who use a lot of google apps and for the future the new operating system but it might pave the way for new companys and software and maybe help create an alternative to google.

I think it may be a good thing for all of us and China has the numbers for a good testing bed.
 
It will be interesting to see how this one pans out!
I feel sorry for the people who use a lot of google apps and for the future the new operating system but it might pave the way for new companys and software and maybe help create an alternative to google.

I think it may be a good thing for all of us and China has the numbers for a good testing bed.

It'd be great to see the Chinese build an alternative to Google, maybe they could call it Noodle?
 
Ffs,,i walked into that one.lol
:tongue:

I promised myself I'd behave in Hamba's threads ya clown. Anyway the Chinese must be listening in so I'm outta here (if you don't believe me about spies, check out the quidco thread in the freebies section)
 
Pretty sad that this is headline news today on the BBC - an American company falling out with the Chinese, really who gives a shit

We'll at least the BBC found a bit of time to mention the other dead service man who died monday in Afganistan
 
So do you have any views on this apart from cut&paste?

I may well have views but my main reason for posting news items is to share what I have read with other members.

This site is mainly dedicated to technology and media: the news I post is usually around those subjects.
 
I may well have views but my main reason for posting news items is to share what I have read with other members.

This site is mainly dedicated to technology and media: the news I post is usually around those subjects.

I have no problems with your post at all as your right in it's technology news ....all I'm saying how surprised that something likes this hits the TV headlines on prime time news, who really cares about google and there war with the Chinese, there are more important things happening on the home front

In responce to that you just fired off more links in googles favour but I'm just trying to say there is 2 sides to the story!
 
I have no problems with your post at all as your right in it's technology news ....all I'm saying how surprised that something likes this hits the TV headlines on prime time news, who really cares about google and there war with the Chinese, there are more important things happening on the home front

In responce to that you just fired off more links in googles favour but I'm just trying to say there is 2 sides to the story!

I think it is quite a big story tbh and its not simply technology news, its a story that also touches on freedom of speech and censorship.
We may take it for granted that we have freedom to surf for whatever we want and if we are pissed off about something we can protest about it but other countries would rather control their people and deny them history and facts.

Who knows if googles intentions were good or bad but it certainly didn't make good business sense and it won't overthrow any governments but it did let us see that we are lucky and maybe we sometimes take it for granted.
 
So do you have any views on this apart from cut&paste?

Most, if not all "Main Site News" is cut and paste. Views should be discussed in "General Chat" surely.


....but I'm just trying to say there is 2 sides to the story!

No doubt, and if anyone wants to post another viewpoint, then they're free to do so. It's not the OP's job to present both sides.
 
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Most, if not all "Main Site News" is cut and paste. Views should be discussed in "General Chat" surely.

That a look down the reply colum in the main news section, some posts have 60 replies, some 20 some 0 -

No doubt, and if anyone wants to post another viewpoint, then they're free to do so. It's not the OP's job to present both sides.

Certainly the OP has his choise wether to comment or not - my view (which I'm entitled to) is that I was suprised that this was primetime headline news and nothing bias towards the post here or the OP!

Think the OP got the the wrong end of the stick to my comment and just pasted in a load more lines to the topic to backup google - I'm just trying to say there are 2 sides to the story.
 
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Think the OP got the the wrong end of the stick to my comment and just pasted in a load more lines to the topic to backup google - I'm just trying to say there are 2 sides to the story.

My reason for posting more was in no way related to your comment.

There were at lot of articles on the Guardian site with different takes on the story: so I posted links to them.

I had no intention of backing up Google.

I'm not posting my opinions, although I suppose you could say that the fact I read the Guardian and respect it's writers reflects something of my mind set.

Others are free to post what they have read elsewhere.
 
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