ISEdb.COM

Google announcement that it will stop censoring its Chinese search site  and may put an end to its operation in China, triggered shock waves through the country’s fast-growing Internet industry.

Google threat to walk away from China

In mid-December, Google, Adobe Systems, and a host of other Silicon Valley companies were targeted by attacks originating in China, a security researcher familiar with the attacks said Tuesday.  The attacks  involved malicious PDF files in e-mail attachments, and some were targeted to Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists according to Google. In addition, accounts of dozens of Gmail users in the U.S., China, and Europe who advocate human rights were accessed routinely via phishing or malware according to Google.

Firefox and Adobe Reader was found to be one of the buggiest programs in 2009 and has been the target of numerous exploits.

Google’s investigations determined that other companies, including at least two financial companies and one major defense contractor, had been targeted.

Chinese government officials have yet to respond to Google’s announcement, and Chinese media were largely silent on the issue.

Google was heavily criticized for caving into China’s government request for censorship, especially in light of its “Don’t Be Evil” motto. Google’s decision to stop censoring its Chinese site prompted quick response from human rights advocates, who praised Google’s decision.

Here is the the statement Google released in a blog post:

We have taken the unusual step of sharing information about these attacks with a broad audience not just because of the security and human rights implications of what we have unearthed, but also because this information goes to the heart of a much bigger global debate about freedom of speech.

These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

The decision to review our business operations in China has been incredibly hard, and we know that it will have potentially far-reaching consequences. We want to make clear that this move was driven by our executives in the United States, without the knowledge or involvement of our employees in China who have worked incredibly hard to make Google.cn the success it is today. We are committed to working responsibly to resolve the very difficult issues raised.

Market Impact:

Google has had major impact throughout China’s information technology sector since it entered the market in 2005. Google’s share of the Chinese market has risen to 35.6% and it is second behind Baidu which has 58.4% market share.

According to China IntelliConsulting Corp, an estimated 80 million people log on to Google at least once a week, and half are frequent users of the Web site.

Lu Bowang, managing partner with the China IntelliConsulting Corp said,  “Google’s influence on the Chinese Internet industry goes far beyond its role as a search engine, mostly thanks to its strong power of innovation … the existence of Google in the Chinese market was always regarded as a motivation for Chinese Internet ventures’ efforts to innovate. Without Google, such motivation … would be gone.”

However, Baidu and other smaller search engines such as Netease.com and  Sohu.com could benefit if Google vanishes. Although it might also risk a backlash if Chinese users angry over Google’s treatment see Baidu and others as aligned with government censors.

According to the Wall Street Journal, many Chinese gathered at Google’s offices in Beijing and Shanghai Wednesday with flowers in an emotional show of support for the company.

“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”