Legal Research

Google Will Move Ahead in China

By Omar Ha-Redeye

China confirmed earlier today that it will renew Google’s license in the country for another year, after a month-long stand-off between the two. Google had publicly claimed on Friday that an agreement had been reached.

David Canton, David Bilinsky, Simon Fodden, Michel-Adrien Sheppard and I all commented on the standoff previously here on Slaw.

In January 2010, Google ceased omitting search results deemed by the Chinese government as subversive or pornographic, after complying for the past 4 years. The decision was made after allegations of Chinese hackers attacking Google’s server to obtain information about anti-government activists. ISPs in China operate on a 4-year license which is renewed annually.

Google had previously been rerouting search queries from mainland China to it servers in Hong Kong, which are not subject to the same restrictions. The new compromise was reached by making users of Google.cn click on another link under the search tool bar to get to the google.com.hk server. In turn, Google promised to “abide by Chinese law” and “ensure the company provides no lawbreaking content.”

Google stock on the Dow Jones rose 2.4 percent Friday over news of the agreement.

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on July 11, 2010 (boomark / email).