Renewed License for Google, but Censorship in China Remains

Nicholas Hamisevicz / July 12, 2010

Google just announced that its Internet licensed was renewed by the Chinese government. Google originally automatically redirected google.cn users to their Hong Kong site, google.com.hk. Now, China is forcing users to click on the link for Google Hong Kong (or almost anywhere on the page) on the google.cn page.

Google did enough technical maneuvering to get what it wanted: a renewed license. Google gets to tell the good news story that it is still in China and that it doesn’t censor. The bad news is that mainland Chinese people will still struggle to get information, and the Chinese government will still push its companies at the expense of foreign ones. Hacking and censorship, including toward Google, will continue.

Google could have made a bigger statement for Internet freedom and the importance of free speech by pulling all of its operations out of China. But Google stays in China, which helps its business story to shareholders and clients. (more…)