On January 12, Google announced on it's blog that it and more than twenty other U.S. companies had been the victims of a sophisticated cyber attack originating from China, and that during their investigation into these attacks they had uncovered evidence to suggest that the Gmail accounts of dozens of human rights activists connected with China were being routinely accessed by third parties, most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on their computers. Google also made clear that these attacks and the surveillance they uncovered—combined with attempts over the last year to further limit free speech on the web in China including the persistent blocking of websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Docs and Blogger—had led us to conclude that Google could no longer continue censoring their results on Google.cn.
So on March 22, 2010, Google stopped censoring their search services—Google Search, Google News, and Google Images—on Google.cn. Users visiting Google.cn are now being redirected to Google.com.hk, where they are offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in mainland China and delivered via their servers in Hong Kong. Users in Hong Kong will continue to receive their existing uncensored, traditional Chinese service, also from Google.com.hk. Due to the increased load on Google's Hong Kong servers and the complicated nature of these changes, users may see some slowdown in service or find some products temporarily inaccessible as Google switches everything over.
Figuring out how to make good on their promise to stop censoring search on Google.cn has been hard. Google wants as many people in the world as possible to have access to their services, including users in mainland China, yet the Chinese government has been crystal clear throughout our discussions that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement. Google believes this new approach of providing uncensored search in simplified Chinese from Google.com.hk is a sensible solution to the challenges they have faced—it's entirely legal and will meaningfully increase access to information for people in China. Google hopes that the Chinese government respects their decision, though they are well aware that it could at any time block access to their services. Google will therefore be carefully monitoring access issues, and have created this new web page, which we will update regularly each day, so that everyone can see which Google services are available in China.
In terms of Google's wider business operations, they intend to continue R&D work in China and also to maintain a sales presence there, though the size of Google's sales team will obviously be partially dependent on the ability of mainland Chinese users to access Google.com.hk. Finally, Google is making clear that all these decisions have been driven and implemented by their executives in the United States, and that none of our employees in China can, or should, be held responsible for them. Despite all the uncertainty and difficulties Google has faced since they made their announcement in January, Google has continued to focus on serving their Chinese users and customers.
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