[Google] Giving China The Finger

Image via Wikipedia

Google's policy of supporting the Chinese government's ultra-strict internet censorship policy has been a long-standing pain for human rights advocates and free speech defenders around the world. For a company with an informal motto of "Don't be evil", its continued support of Chinese policy has always been seen as an inconsistency in their actions and their supposed support of internet liberty and freedom of information.

So finally they're doing something about it.

In an official blog post, Google announced a sudden shift in Google policy in terms of how it intends to operate its Google.cn domain. Whereas before they fully supported China's censorship rules on Google.cn while keeping Google.com uncensored, they have now decided that they will no longer censor its Google.cn result. They intend to consult with the Chinese government regarding how they can continue to operate within Chinese law without censoring its results at the risk of being forced to shut down Google.cn and perhaps its entire Chinese operations in general.

The reason for this appears to be a series of attacks on the Google network recently targeting the Gmail accounts of several known human rights activists in China. While Google claims that the hacking attempt generally failed in the sense that no sensitive information was acquired in the attack, they still feel it was some sort of an affront on their continued operations in China and a sign of the prevailing political culture that won't allow for freedom of speech in any regard.

It took you long enough, Google. Seriously.

But still, better late than never and the Geeky Guide for one fully supports this long overdue shift in Google policy. Take that Chinese censors! And a double dumb ass on you!