Google Inc. is changing its access in China after a government threat to revoke its license to operate in the country.
Chinese officials had been angered by the search engine’s tactic of automatically redirecting Chinese users to an uncensored site in Hong Kong. Their license comes up for renewal on Wednesday and they have yet to hear whether their concessions – stopping the redirection from happening automatically, making users choose it themselves – are satisfactory.
It is the latest struggle the market leader has had in its entry into the Chinese-language world, trying to balance growth in the restrictive market with its self-imposed principle “Don’t be evil.”
The trouble began in March, when the company stopped its government-enforced censorship. It began providing a link to uncensored google.com.hk when people attempted to search on google.cn, rather than displaying the censored results.
It was prompted by a major cyberattack in January, when hackers stole proprietary computer code and spied on Google email accounts of Chinese human-rights activists.
Google’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, said, "This new approach is consistent with our commitment not to self censor and with local law. We are hopeful our license will be renewed so we can continue to offer our Chinese users services via Google.cn."
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, said he hadn't seen Google's concessions but said, "I'd like to stress that the Chinese government encourages foreign enterprises to operate in China according to the law, and we also administer the Internet according to the law.”
