Google May Pull Out of China over Censorship

The Internet giant, Google Inc. says it may close its google.cn site and shut down its offices in China. The company blames censorship and a series of sophisticated China-based hacking attempts on human rights activists' email accounts.

Google announced in an official statement on Tuesday that within a few weeks, it plans either stop censoring search results on google.cn, or reassess whether it will continue business operations in China.

The issue arose this week when Google announced that China-based hackers had tried to break into Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Google said attacks had also been attempted on more than 20 other companies, but did not give further details.

Reports of hacks and attacks are common in China, according to Amnesty International's Asia Pacific Program Deputy Director Roseann Rife.

[Roseann Rife, Amnesty International Asia Pacific]:
"The report about the hacking and trying to get into email accounts of human rights defenders is very worrying. We've noted over the years a number of attacks on non-governmental organizations both inside China and outside China. It's very common to see that kind of attack, trying to enter your own email and it's very worrying."

China, with its more than 350 million Web surfers and annual search revenue topping $1 billion, can be an alluring target for foreign companies.

But they must adhere to strict Chinese censorship rules that forbid discussion or display of pages on sensitive topics like pro-democracy activities, the Tibetan independence movement, and the Chinese regime’s persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, among other human rights issues. 

Google and Microsoft, along with domestic giants Baidu and Sina all adhere to such rules, though, in general, they do not speak publicly about them.

Rife hopes that Google’s move will force the Internet censorship issue into the public eye.

[Roseann Rife, Amnesty International Asia Pacific]:
"It's a very positive step that Google took, going public with the attacks that they've experienced and also the concerns about censorship they have to operate under within China. We certainly welcome that kind of transparency. After all, they are an information business, so it's very important. Amnesty International is very concerned about Internet censorship in China for quite a number of years and so it's welcoming that somebody in the corporate world came out and said this is a problem and we have to deal with it."

China is one of the few markets where Google is not in the lead—it lags behind Baidu which has a 60 percent share of the market, compared to Google's 30 percent.

Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA, an advisory firm dealing in the technology sector, says Google has little to lose financially by pulling out of China.

[Duncan Clark, Chairman, BDA]:
"So I think they feel like they may have nothing to lose, if, yes they are not a leading player in China. They are doing what they can, they have already announced that they will not be competing as aggressively in China as they have in the past but they still thought at least they can do R&D in this country and benefit from Chinese engineering talent here. But I think they are beginning to feel that even maintaining a minimal presence here, as they had already planned, may be compromising potentially their own company principles and their own, potentially, reputation in the U.S. in this critical year."

Censorship blocks were still in place this morning on google.cn as searches for sensitive subjects such as recently jailed activist Liu Xiaobo returned selected results with the customary warning that (quote) "part of the results will not be shown according to local law, regulations and policies."