Ooh boy, it's started again. After Google's allegations yesterday that the Chinese government was blocking Gmail, the Foreign Ministry has hit back, calling it "an unacceptable accusation." Grab the popcorn folks, because this will no doubt drag on and on. [Reuters]
Last year's row between Google and the Chinese government is beginning to look like a scratched scab according to the NY Times, which has reported Google accused the government over Gmail downtimes.
By now you should've heard that WikiLeaks released a bunch of new files yesterday, which are being called "cables." The whole mess even has a "-gate" suffix! And sheds light on Google massive hack-attack last January...
In a belated but expected move, China has renewed Google's ICP license. That means Google.cn will continue to function, which as recently as last month was an open question.
Last week Google's Chinese Internet Content Provider license came up for renewal, but according to a Google spokesperson, the Chinese government hasn't got back to them yet. Now though, a Chinese site is reporting on some new features being added.
As a result of Google standing up to cafeteria-manager China, demanding they serve pie every day of the week, China's expected to revoke their Internet Content Provider license, meaning in 24-48 hours the Chinese people can't access Google.
A while back, Google made the bold decision to stop censoring search results in China. As a consequence of this action, the company is now a little bit nervous about its future in the country:
Google killed Google China Search Engine today. This is what China has to say:
If you head to Google.cn, you'll be re-directed to Google.com.hk with a message saying "Welcome to the new home of Google China search." So that's that, I guess.
We've already explored some of the repercussions that could come if Google exits China, but that's looking all the more likely now that an actual date has been pointed at by one of their Chinese employees.
That letter Google received from 27 Chinese companies demanding compensation if the search giant pulls out of the country was as authentic as the average Chinese-bought Louis Vuitton handbag, as it turns out.
Google and China's dirty laundry has been airing in public since mid-January when Google refused to continue censoring search results in the country. A resolution could be nearing though, with Google rumored to be pulling censorship this month.
