Google Vs China (ABC News Video)

Google vs China (ABC News video) File name: WNN_3-23-10_GoogleChina.flv

Internet search giant Google says that it plans to offer an uncensored site in Hong Kong. The move has upset Chinese authorities, it is the latest in an ongoing clash between the California based search engine and Beijing authorities over unfettered access. Brad Wheelis has more.

In 2006 search giant Google set up operations on mainland China after agreeing to several rules imposed by the Chinese government. Chinese web users for example, couldn’t search google.cn, or anything on Tiananmen Square, the Dalai Lama, or falun gong. Now a rocky marriage has become a partial separation.

It’s undeniable this has embarrassed the Chinese government mainly because of the domestic dissention that’s raised about what does this mean for China if Google can’t operate there.

In December Google and at least twenty other companies were subjected to a wide scale coordinated hack attack. One many believe was coordinated by the Chinese government. Late Monday Google’s chief legal counsel David Drummond blogged, “…a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. We are no longer willing,” added Drummond, “to continue censoring our results on Google.cn…” Now if a Chinese citizen wants to search Google they’ll automatically be redirected to Google’s Hong Kong site where press and internet censorship is less restrictive than on the mainland. Google will still keep its engineering and sales offices on the mainland.

It doesn’t want to pull the plug altogether, it was becoming the largest internet market in the world. The Chinese government calls the decision wrong but on Wall Street…

There’s been uncertainty and a related overhang on the stock for the last two months. We think to a large extent that’s going to start dissipating.

Brad Wheelis, ABC News.

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