Google to China: No More Internet Censorship, or We Leave

[☭proletarian☭]

Are the world’s most popular search engine and the world’s most populous country headed for a breakup? That’s the word reverberating around the Internet today after Google said it would no longer put up with the Chinese government’s demands to censor the Internet and the rampant hacking attempts against it, which could result in the company ending its Chinese operations.

Google to China: No More Internet Censorship, or We Leave | 80beats | Discover Magazine

 

[SFC Ollie]

Should prove to be interesting how this plays out.

 

[waltky]

Yea, right - Google gonna put their money where their mouth is...

... ain't never gonna happen.

Google Says China Blocking its Email Services
March 21, 2011 - Google is reporting email disruptions in China, where users have had difficulty accessing the company’s Gmail program.

Computer users in China have had sporadic access to their Gmail accounts in recent weeks. For some, access is inconsistent. For others, it has been completely blocked. The California-based computer company Google, which offers Gmail, issued a statement saying it is not having any technical problems with its main website or Gmail service in China. It said the problems are "government blockage, carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail."

China’s Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment, and did not respond to questions submitted last week about Gmail service problems. China has some of the strictest Internet controls in the world, and already blocks public access to a wide range of websites with content it deems illegal or pornographic. Mark Natkin, with Marbridge Consulting, says he thinks the Chinese government may be responsible for the latest problems with Gmail.

"The service seems to be working fine outside China. We have talked to individuals located immediately outside of mainland China, all of whom have reported that their Gmail service is working without disruption. So, it seems that it is almost certainly something that the authorities here are doing," he says. The new controls may be related to events in the Middle East, adds Natkin, where popular uprisings have led to leadership changes in some countries.

"I think this is much more closely related to the upheaval in the Middle East and concerns that there might be people calling for a similar activity in China." He says he hopes the situation in China will be relaxed after, in his words, "things settle down" in the Middle East.

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