March 25 2010

From now on, Google China will no longer exist. Google China had redirected all search queries from Google China to Google Hong Kong. If you try to search in google.cn now, you will be redirected to google.com.hk.

The difference between searching directly in google.com.hk and redirected from google.cn is that the latter one is written in simplified Chinese. The users in Hong Kong will continue to use the traditional Chinese version. The simplified Chinese version is specifically designed for users in mainland China.

What actually happened that made Google China decided to direct their domain to Hong Kong? Google had detected that the Gmail accounts of a couple of Chinese human activists were being hacked by third party. It is said to be accessed through phishing scams or malware placed on their computers.

The Chinese government has control over their own domain and thus has requested Google for censorship on some sensitive political issues. Previously, the Chinese government also limited the Chinese citizens from free speech on the web in China which led to blocking of popular websites like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Blogger and Google Docs.

These widespread of censorship made Google arrived at a decision that they could no longer provide censorship to the search results on Google China. This would mean that Google China would like to provide an unfiltered search engine that is still within the law.

With the domain redirected to Hong Kong, the Chinese government quickly installed firewalls to disabled searches made by the Chinese on sensitive topics.

Google is hoping that the Chinese government will respect their decision to move the domain to Hong Kong. Google is actually taking the risk if the Chinese government is to oppose to their decision and block the Hong Kong domain of Google partially or entirely if it is severe.

Google is willing to take this step due to the fact that the other countries have followed their own laws and censored certain controversial topics on their own Google domain. However, the citizens are still able to access google.com to find those topics that are being censored in their own country domain. There are no talks on these issues and everyone is happy with it. Thus Google tried to use this example hoping that China will also agree to their decision.

China has a very huge market so Google will be losing potential market share when they pullout partially. On the other hand, it will threaten the businesses operating in China that need access to Google China.

China widespread of censorship on Google China had made it difficult for the users in China to search for necessary information. We felt that it is not fair for those who want to know more about the history or share their views through those popular social media platforms.

Due to the changes, the Google server in Hong Kong will experience a slowdown. Users may be displeased with it and more problems may arise. Earlier on, Google mentioned that they wished to continue R&D work with China and maintain a sales team there. Personally, we felt that if the Chinese government opposed to Google decision, they are most likely angered by Google's action. Google relationship with China will be worsened and thus they will probably not be able to continue working together until both sides come to an agreement.

Written by: Tan Kah Boon

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