In the most recent post on the official Google blog, information was disclosed about a hacker located in China that tried to hack into the Gmail accounts of some human rights activists in China but were unsuccessful. Google discovered that close to two dozen other large companies were under similar attack in industries ranging from technology, internet, media, finance, and chemical, suggesting that Google was not the sole target.

An independent investigation — by Google — turned up information that Gmail accounts belonging to people who advocate human rights in the U.S., Europe, and China were “routinely accessed by third parties.” Google stated that these hacked accounts were the results of phishing scams and/or Malware on the users computers rather than a security breach.

This is a friendly reminder to make sure that your internet browser, operating system, anti-virus (Mac-users exempt), and spyware software is always kept up-to-date.

These issues segue into the heart of the issue, namely censorship and free-speech. Google entered Chinese cyberspace in 2006 with Google.cn, which was the result of compromising on Google’s typical stance regarding free-speech and internet freedom and allowed Google.cn search results to be regulated by Chinese laws and regulations which ultimately led to censoring any information the Chinese government deemed “illegal.”

At the onset, Google did make it clear that they would be monitoring the laws and regulations in China and would not hesitate to change their approach to offering their services.

It now appears that the conscience of Google is affecting their sleeping patterns and they will no longer be censoring search results in China on Google.cn, even if it means packing up shop and shutting down their China offices and services.

“We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all." said Google. "We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.”

The Google blog indicated that the decision to stop censoring search results was made by United States-based executives and had nothing to do with the employees that are located in China.
 

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Dwight lane said:

	... It is about time that American companies stand up to the restrictive Chinese policies on free markets and more importantly, free speech!
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January 13, 2010
Votes: +6

DDW said:

	You know what? I think I'd be just as worried about censorship by the current regime in Washington DC as I would be worried about communist China. I'm beginning to think there's very little difference, if any at all.
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January 13, 2010
Votes: +7

Larry Brown said:

	Lest we forget From the beginning of "relations" with China the Chinese Government has declared that the United States was their *MAIN* enemy. Therefore, the Chinese Government is now and always has been our enemy. It follows that the U.S. should not be trading with China and giving them aid and comfort.
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January 14, 2010 | url
Votes: +5

Kenneth Creech said:

... Well put gentlemen! Seems to me you must be prime candidates for a third party(try constitution)run for election to the U S congress. It boggles my mind that people simply laugh when I tell them to check merchandise in our business world and see where it is coming from. China seems to be the largest exporter to the U S. Part of our most favored status trading partner. Trading freedom for obligating ourselves to communism. If we do not remove non constitutioinalist from our congress we are doomed to fall victim to communism.

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January 14, 2010
Votes: +4