Google China and Censorship

Last week Google revealed that its search engine and gmail service had been subjected to a n attack by hackers emanating from within China. The attack was centered on sites and e-mail accounts of Human Rights Activists. Google informed the Chinese government that it would no longer censor its search engine Google.cn and was considering ending its operations in China which had been operating for only 4 years.

The official response is just beyond ironic
China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said in prepared remarks last week: "I want to stress that China's Internet is open. The Chinese Government encourages the development of (the) Internet and endeavors to create a sound environment for the healthy development of (the) Internet. Hacking in whatever form is prohibited by law in China."

Chinas security services severely restrict what online users are allowed to view. Including negative news about China, news sites such as the BBC, information about human rights, information about the Tienanmen protests in the spring of 1989 and that is only a small sample of what is censored. Last year China tried to force computer makers to install internet filtering software which they refused to do. And, after pressure from Washington and major business groups the Chinese government backed down. The problems of dealing with Chinas oppressive laws has led to problems for U.S. based companies such as Yahoo. Later that year, it came to light that the Sunnyvale company handed over e-mail content from journalist Shi Tao to Chinese authorities, providing information that would lead to his 10-year prison sentence. Reporters Without Borders, human rights groups and members of Congress denounced the act.

Back in the early 80's under pressure from university students and Human Rights groups major international corporations began leaving South Africa because of its Apartheid Laws
Today's corporations are more interested in the bottom line and continued profit growth than in Human Rights issues. Why else would they continue to operate in countries such as China where repression and Human Rights violations are just part of the contract when dealing with the Devil.