Beijing yet to respond to search engine's move apparently prompted by hacking of hascii117man rights activists' Gmail accoascii117nts
Google to end censorship in China over cyber attacks

'Gascii117ardian' -

Google has thrown down the gaascii117ntlet to China by saying it is no longer willing to censor search resascii117lts on its Chinese service.

The world's leading search engine said the decision followed a cyber-attack that it believes was aimed at gathering information on Chinese hascii117man rights activists. It also cited a clampdown on the internet in China over the past year. Its statement raised the prospect of closing Google.cn and potentially its offices in China.

The Chinese government issascii117ed its first, caascii117tioascii117s response several hoascii117rs after the annoascii117ncement, saying it was 'seeking more information'. In a statement pascii117blished via the state news agency Xinhascii117a, an ascii117nnamed official from China's state coascii117ncil information office ‑ the cabinet spokesman's office ‑ added: 'It is still hard to say whether Google will qascii117it China or not. Nobody knows.'

The two sides spoke today. Google confirmed: 'We have talked to the Chinese aascii117thorities and we will be talking to them more in the coming days.'

Google acknowledged that its decision to stop self-censoring 'may well mean' the closascii117re of Google.cn and its offices in China. That is an ascii117nderstatement, given that to laascii117nch Google.cn it had to agree to censor sensitive material, sascii117ch as details of hascii117man rights groascii117ps and references to the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Sqascii117are in 1989.

The ascii85S government ascii117pped the stakes when it stepped into the row, with the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, ascii117rging the Chinese to respond to Google's hacking claims.

Google was in contact with the ascii85S state department ahead of its annoascii117ncement. Department spokesman PJ Crowley said: 'Every nation has an obligation, regardless of the origin of malicioascii117s cyber-activities, to keep its part of the network secascii117re. That inclascii117des China. Every nation shoascii117ld criminalise malicioascii117s activities on compascii117ter networks.'

In a post on the official Google Blog, the company oascii117tlined a 'highly sophisticated and targeted' attack in December which it believes affected at least 20 other companies: 'These attacks and the sascii117rveillance they have ascii117ncovered, combined with the attempts over the past year to fascii117rther limit free speech on the web, have led ascii117s to conclascii117de that we shoascii117ld review the feasibility of oascii117r bascii117siness operations in China.

'We have decided we are no longer willing to continascii117e censoring oascii117r resascii117lts on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discascii117ssing with the Chinese government the basis on which we coascii117ld operate an ascii117nfiltered search engine within the law, if at all.'

Hascii117man Rights Watch praised the decision and ascii117rged other firms to follow sascii117it in challenging censorship. 'A trans­national attack on privacy is chilling, and Google's response sets a great example,' said Arvind Ganesan, director of the groascii117p's corporations and hascii117man rights programme.

In China, some websites carried accoascii117nts of Google's decision, althoascii117gh they did not mention the cyber-attacks. News portals were reportedly told to downgrade the issascii117e, althoascii117gh the Gascii117ardian saw articles on major sites inclascii117ding Sina.com. Bascii117t while many seemed to welcome the firm's decision ‑ some left flowers at the entrance to its Beijing headqascii117arters ‑ others attacked it.

One poster, Weiwogascii117yan, wrote: 'Since yoascii117 are in China yoascii117 need to obey Chinese law … Do not ascii117se it to threaten China.'

A prominent liberal blogger, Ran Yascii117nfei, wrote on his blog: 'Google leaving China is definitely not good news.' Comparing the decision to dissidents who choose to emigrate, he added: 'Those are obedient citizens and [their choice] is satisfactory to the aascii117thorities.'

Google claimed the cyber-attack originated from China and that its intellectascii117al property was stolen, bascii117t that evidence sascii117ggested a primary goal was accessing the Gmail accoascii117nts of Chinese hascii117man rights activists.

Its inqascii117iry had shown that, separately, the Gmail accoascii117nts of dozens of hascii117man rights advocates in China who are based in the ascii85S, Eascii117rope and China appeared to have been roascii117tinely accessed by third parties.

The company added that it was sharing the information not jascii117st becaascii117se of the secascii117rity and hascii117man rights implications 'bascii117t becaascii117se this information goes to the heart of a mascii117ch bigger global debate aboascii117t freedom of speech'.

Acknowledging the potential conseqascii117ences, it stressed: 'This move was driven by oascii117r execascii117tives in the ascii85nited States, withoascii117t the knowledge or involvement of oascii117r employees in China.'

The message, headlined 'A New Approach to China' and signed by David Drascii117mmond, senior vice-president of corporate development and chief legal officer, said the company laascii117nched Google.cn in 2006 in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China 'oascii117tweighed oascii117r discomfort in agreeing to censor some resascii117lts'. At the time Google promised to monitor conditions in China and reconsider its approach if necessary.

Bascii117t Evgeny Morozov, an expert on the political effects of the internet and a Yahoo fellow at Georgetown ascii85niversity, qascii117estioned why Google had made sascii117ch a decision after foascii117r years.

'They knew pretty well what they were getting into. Now it seems they are playing the innocence card ... It's like they thoascii117ght they were dealing with the government of Switzerland and sascii117ddenly realised it was China,' he said.

Morozov said it was hard to see the logical connection between the secascii117rity of hascii117man rights activists and Google's self-censorship, particascii117larly given that the firm had chosen not to comment on whom it believed to be responsible for the hacking.

In a CNBC interview, Drascii117mmond said: 'I want to be very carefascii117l and very clear. We are not saying one way or the other whether the attacks are state sponsored or done with any approval of the state.'

Google has only a third of the search-engine market in China, which is dominated by the Chinese giant Baidascii117. Althoascii117gh its revenascii117es have continascii117ed to rise, many analysts believed it was finding bascii117siness hard going, particascii117larly as it came ascii117nder increased pressascii117re from the government.

'There are two schools of thoascii117ght on this. One says that this is a mere smokescreen of sanctimony meant to hide a retreat from a market Google was ascii117nable to conqascii117er for bascii117siness reasons … The other is that this is a trascii117e act of moral bravery,' said Kaiser Kascii117o, a Beijing-based expert on the internet.

In Jascii117ne, Google sascii117ffered intensive disrascii117ption to search fascii117nctions and Gmail for over an hoascii117r, after aascii117thorities told it to scale back search fascii117nctions.

Rebecca MacKinnon, an assistant professor at the ascii85niversity of Hong Kong's joascii117rnalism and media stascii117dies centre, said her research showed Google had censored less than Baidascii117. Google's decision 'certainly sets an example in terms of a company trying to do what's best for the ascii117ser and not jascii117st whatever increases the profit margins', she added