Google has had enough with censoring its search results in China, and is threatening to exit the country if it can't find an acceptable way of doing business. The announcement follows recent hacking attempts on Gmail accounts held by human rights activists in China as well as phishing and malware attacks outside China on Gmail accounts held by advocates of human rights in China. Google said around 20 companies were affected, but the New York Times reports 34 incidents, at listed companies many of whom are based in Silicon Valley and others active in financial services and chemicals. Google justified the radical decision by pointing to the importance of security and human rights as well as the need to defend freedom of speech.
Google started Google.cn in 2006 and now has around 700 employees in China, annual sales of USD 300 million and a market share of around 30 percent. Its biggest competitor is local search engine Baidu. Despite the company's motto 'Don't be evil', Google has justified the censorship in China to date with the argument that a censored search engine is better than no search engine. Google noted as well in a blog posting that the recent hacking attempts were aimed at individual users, and not at Google's own servers. This should help smother any concerns about the risks of cloud computing.
The big question is will Google actually leave China? It's clear the company is putting an end to the censorship. On its Public Policy Blog Google writes: "We have decided that we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn". But a full pull-out of China is a sensitive issue. Not just for Google, even if the revenues are small (the company's total revenues for 2009 are estimated at USD 22.8 billion), but also for the Chinese government. Both are risking damage to their image.
Google apparently considers itself strong enough for a frontal attack. The company is again living up to its 'Don't be evil' motto, and will enjoy a positive wave of publicity as a result. In addition, Google is hoping for a coordinated attack with the other 33 companies affected. The US government will also likely join the public debate. The outlook for China is less positive – censorship, a cyber-attack and Google's eventual exit will not do the country any good.
A cynic would say Google is exploiting these advantages in the negotiating game. An uncensored search engine would also help Google.cn win market share from Baidu. Let's not forget that it's not unheard of for Google to adjust its search results for commercial reasons – the company is not completely reliable.
Whatever the case, one can only welcome Google's robust language and hope the global human rights situation receives a boost. A free and open internet is important for the whole world, and one must hope that China will some day see that.
