Google Threat Jolts Chinese Internet Industry

The Wall Street Journal ^ | January 13, 2010 | Loretta Chao and Aaron Beck

[myknowledge]

BEIJING — Google Inc.'s threat to walk away from China sent shockwaves through the country's fast-growing Internet industry Wednesday, with users, executives and analysts trying to gauge the potential fallout.

The U.S. search giant's announcement that it will stop censoring its Chinese search site, and may withdraw from the country altogether, triggered an outpouring of concern, and some anger, among Chinese Internet users. Students and others gathered at Google's offices in Beijing and Shanghai Wednesday with flowers in an emotional show of support for the company, which analysts say has an audience of more than 40 million loyal users in China.

"It's a tragedy if Google pulls out of China," said Xu Hao, a junior studying Japanese at Tongji University in Shanghai. Wu Zhiwei, a sophomore studying philosophy at Fudan University in Shanghai, said "a lot of people are very angry at government censorship," and also said he understands that it contradicts Google's philosophies on free-Internet use.

[myknowledge]

No wonder the Chinese online users mourn Google's demise in China. It's back to online censorship.

[ShadowAce]

[PGR88]

Google just made an enemy for life. They may as well pull out now, because the Chinese Communist Party plays for keeps.

[paulycy]

The U.S. search giant's announcement that it will stop censoring its Chinese search site

The U.S. search giant's announcement that it will stop censoring its Chinese search site being evil.

Fixed.

[myknowledge]

The CCP would want to boot out Google so that they can keep using their domestic online search engines, which are controlled by the CCP’s online censorship board.

[paulcissa]

Much more to this story. The chi-coms are threatening to levy fairly hefty taxes on the gmail accounts of known dissidents and wants control of where those emails can be read.

Google is getting to know what it's like to dance with the devil.

[Tribune7]

Good for Google for a change.

[martin_fierro]

Google: Tiananmen? Never Happened!

[Buckeye McFrog]

Hard to recruit Bay Area techies crusing around in their Priuses with the Free Tibet! and Sign Kyoto bumper stickers when you are helping the ChiComs to censor the internet, eh?

[Future Snake Eater]

Hard to recruit Bay Area techies crusing around in their Priuses with the Free Tibet! and Sign Kyoto bumper stickers when you are helping the ChiComs to censor the internet, eh?

"Don't Be Evil", right?

[Second Amendment First]

Google still hasn’t fixed the “bug” showing no drop down suggestions for “islam is”.

[Republic of Texas]

Oh, Google finally found some totalitarianism they didn’t like? Amazing.

[DigitalVideoDude]

Wow... you’re right.

Try “christianty is”.

Validating my switch to BING.

[Still Thinking]

Asshats. The collaboration on censorship isn't new, but another article I read said the issue that caused this flare-up was that the Chinese were made at Google over allowing porn. Google supposedly fought back by stopping the censorship of search results and considering a complete pullout from China. Pinko commie rats will censor anti-communist political information, but porn is the hill they pick to die on -- and use the political stuff as a club to whack the regime. Real classy.

"Oh, you want us to deny people access to information about freedom and anything that makes communism look bad? No problem! You want us to cut off their porn?? You devils! We fight you to our last breath!"