Google, a long-time leader in the search industry, made a decisive move in the business world with its decision to remove servers from China. Searches such as “Beijing Olympics” and “Beijing Metro” are loaded with error messages saying “the server could not be contacted” or other failure to load messages.
Based in Mountain View, California, Google announced March 30 that these blocks to searches are a result of China’s “state-controlled firewall.” These problems are not the first Google has had with the country – tensions began to rise in January when the company released intentions to cease censoring search results in the country.
John Garrison, a freshman in computer science, said he approved of the move, since it shows China cares for more than just big business options.
Garrison said “I believe that their move to Hong Kong shows that even though there is more financial incentive for staying in China, they took a more moral stance,” Garrison said. “I think that this will help their image when it comes to their slogan ‘don’t be evil.'”
China’s censorship laws have become increasingly difficult to deal with for American companies that promote freedom of speech, such as Google and partnering companies like The Go Daddy Group. On March 24 the pair spoke at the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) to review parameters regarding China’s censorship of the Internet.
After Google’s announcement to redirect its China searches through its Hong Kong site, Go Daddy, which is the leading domain name register, followed with “discontinuing to offer new .CN domain names at this time.” This decision is a result of the Chinese government’s increasing regulations on registered Chinese domain names.
Last December, the government required citizens, for domain registration, to include color headshot photos, Chinese business registration numbers and signed registration forms of registrants who are Chinese nationals. In addition, the new requirements are to be retroactively applied to registrants Go Daddy had previously registered, sometimes years before. Apparently, Chinese authorities want to increase control over content of domain name registrations by Chinese citizens.
The limitations on free speech in China increased last year, making it difficult for Google to continue. It was observed by the company that numerous sites have been blocked in China, including YouTube, The Guardian, Facebook, Twitter, Blogger and Wikipedia. Upon inspection is the CECC’s political prisoner database for China, which contains over 1,000 entries, all profiles of convicted prisoners for their postings on the Internet.
For example, Huang Qi was sentenced to three years for “illegal possession of state secrets.” The state secret? His crime was investigating the Sichuan earthquake zone, writing about the collapsed schools and posting parents’ appeals on his Web site.
Kyle Yarborough, a freshman in management, and a volunteer with Technology Support Services, said he was not surprised with the decision.
“It wasn’t a surprise when they decided to make the move due to the continuing conflict and struggle over search consolidation. Google and the Chinese government had made an agreement, one that was working,” Yarborough said. “When Google received a report that they had been hacked, that the intrusion had been made from sources in the Chinese government, and although they could not prove that it was the Chinese government, who else would have the reason and resources to do so? Google threatened to move and an agreement could not be made.”
As a result of Google’s actions, human rights organizations have stepped up their campaign for the U.S. Government to aid U.S. companies in dealing with the communist regime’s censorship and Internet surveillance. These human rights organizations have called for the passing of the Global Online Freedom Act, which is, in their opinion, the best way for the U.S. Government to come to the aid of U.S. IT companies. Congressman Chris Smith said, “Go Daddy and Google deserve more than praise for doing the right thing in China—they deserve our government’s tangible support.”
The Global Online Freedom Act has been introduced in the House of Representatives, and its purpose is to “promote freedom of expression on the Internet, to protect United States businesses from coercion to participate in repression by authoritarian foreign governments, and for other purposes.” It would also create an Office of Global Internet Freedom at the State Department responsible for coordinating Internet freedom efforts and conducting research. Smith originally introduced the legislation in 2007, but it failed to gain traction in the U.S. House of Representatives. Smith reintroduced the bill in 2009.
