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Google will stop redirecting Chinese users to its uncensored Hong Kong site as it looks to maneuver itself into a more conciliatory posture. Its Internet Content Provider license is scheduled to come up for renewal on Wednesday. The Chinese authorities have warned Google that it will be denied a fresh license if it continues redirecting Chinese search traffic to its Hong Kong site. Unwilling to sacrifice its presence in the most populous internet market, the company has opted for an alternative to automatic redirection. That said, it won't be rolling back the clock to the uncomplicated days of censored search results any time soon.
Instead, Chinese users will soon begin seeing a landing page on Google.cn that links to its Hong Kong site, leaving the choice of clicking through to the uncensored search site with the user. In fact, it has already begun directing some Chinese users to the new landing page. The company has applied for a new license “based on this approach.”
“Without an ICP license, we can’t operate a commercial website like Google.cn—so Google would effectively go dark in China,” David Drummond, Google's Chief Legal Officer, wrote in a blog post Monday. “That’s a prospect dreaded by many of our Chinese users, who have been vocal about their desire to keep Google.cn alive. We have therefore been looking at possible alternatives, and instead of automatically redirecting all our users, we have started taking a small percentage of them to a landing page on Google.cn that links to Google.com.hk.”
Image Credit: TechAutos
Comments are closed on this article
PawBear
June 29, 2010 at 12:41pm
I just heard a rumor that China is going to buy Google... and Microsoft, and Apple, and make them all go dark. China is the only country that can.
Ok, I just made this up, but they could if they wanted to thanks to us.
"Either we conform the Truth to our desires or we conform our desires to the Truth."
naxself
June 29, 2010 at 11:08am
So much for "Don't be evil."
Google's only agenda is money and access, just like every other tech company. It should at least stop pretending otherwise (at least Microsoft admits it wants to rule the world, so we all know where it stands, unlike Google and Apple).
Taz0
June 29, 2010 at 8:34am
I don't get it.
If google.cn redirects to google.com.hk and say Google loses its ICP license, can't people in China just go directly to Google.com.hk? If so, then why is the "prospect dreaded by many [...] Chinese users"?
opulent_rigs
June 29, 2010 at 9:15am
China might even prevent people from accessing Google services based in Hong Kong.
