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Google quietly removed search warning message in China in early December 2012
Google's search engine has a turbulent history in China, from search results being censored to temporary shutdowns. The company's most recent effort to serve mainland China with unfiltered search results met with an untimely end back in early December, Google confirms -- a warning previously told mainlanders when the search term they were using had met with issues (read: Chinese government intrusion causing lengthy connection times) for other users. GreatFire discovered that said message no longer popped up when searching for various censored terms on Google Search in China, and while Google's confirming that fact, it's unclear what the exact reasoning is. Given the rocky history between Google and China, it seems likely that China responded in turn to Google's efforts with its own -- or as The Guardian puts it, "Google concedes defeat in China censorship battle." Whether that's the case or not remains to be seen, but Chinese Google searchers should beware that your experience may result in some unfortunate connection issues from time to time (as much as 90 seconds), per China's censorship policies.
Google.cn now rerouting to Hong Kong domain, an 'entirely legal' workaround to censorship woes
It's not quite the ceasing of operations that the local papers were reporting last week, but Google has announced today what it's calling an "entirely legal" way of giving mainland China unfiltered search results. The Google.cn domain now redirects to its Hong Kong servers via Google.com.hk, providing uncensored access in traditional and simplified Chinese. Needless to say, any mainland Google China servers have thus been given an early retirement. "We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services," writes David Drummond, SVP of Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, on the official Google Blog, while also noting to expect some slowdown while the HK servers deal with an expanded load of users. As for its men and women on the ground, Google reiterates that these decisions were driven by executives in the U.S. "and that none of [its] employees in China can, or should, be held responsible for them." R&D work will continue on the mainland, and a sales presence will remain. The company has created a "China service availability" page, promised to be updated daily, for seeing what parts of Google's business are being blocked by the country at any given time -- as of today, that includes Youtube, Google Sites, Blogger, and partial blocks of Docs, Picasa, and Groups. We're very curious to see how the page'll look in tomorrow's update. Update: China has given its own response, in English, saying that Google has "violated its written promise." An official for the State Council Information Office goes on to say, " This is totally wrong. We're uncompromisingly opposed to the politicization of commercial issues, and express our discontent and indignation to Google for its unreasonable accusations and conducts." More details via Xinhuanet. Update 2: The White House has chimed in. "We are disappointed that Google and the Chinese government were unable to reach an agreement that would allow Google to continue operating its search services in China on its Google.cn website," said National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer. More via Yahoo! News. Update 3: The New York Times sat down, briefly, with Google co-founder Sergey Brin for a few elaborations on today's events. For starters, Brin noted that the new policy was entirely Google's idea, and the US government was not involved in any way. He also silenced whispers that Google would be releasing software for bypassing censorship. "I think those tools are going to come of their own accord. I don't think we have to do anything," he said.
Google China could be ceasing operations in April, says report
Just when you were hoping things would get better for the bickering search giant and nation-state, along comes apparent word from Shanghai-based Chinese Business News (via Bloomberg), citing an anonymous Google China employee, that the company is looking into closing up shop on April 10th. That's a far cry from what we heard late last week, that it would stay in the country, albeit in a potentially modified form. Frankly, this is quite sketchy and no one anywhere is corroborating, but according to the report, an announcement is expected on Monday, March 22nd. Better get used to the idea of Bing-powered Android devices.
Germany advises its citizens to say 'nein' to Internet Explorer
Autsch! In light of the recent attacks on Google China and Microsoft's revelation that an Internet Explorer security flaw served as an impetus in the assault, Germany's Federal Office for Information Security has released a warning to its population: avoid IE. Specifically, the report calls out the latest three versions -- 6, 7, and 8 -- but let's face it, those older versions should be avoided on grounds of usability alone. Boy, bet the Bonn-based agency is happy about that Windows 7 web browser ballot screen, eh?
