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Google vs China

Posted on 20. Jan, 2010 by Jake in News

Google vs China is threatening to take over from past rivalries such as 50 Cent vs Kanye West and Microsoft vs Apple as the world’s most newsworthy beef.

The latest news in the whole debacle is that Google have postponed the launch of two of their new cellular phones using the Android operating system. The monolithic web company and China’s government are apparently in negotiations, and Google is reluctant to release the phones until the terms of their remaining in China have been agreed upon.

For the four people in the world who don’t know, it all began when Google was hit by a series of cyberattacks in China, and as a consequence threatened to withdraw from the Chinese market altogether, particularly because the attacks aimed to collect information about Chinese dissidents and human rights activists. Google reacted by slamming the censorship imposed by the Chinese Government and threatening to withdraw from China.

The next little twist in the story was when it was determined that Google staff could have been involved in the attack. It was claimed by ‘unknown sources’ that hackers targeted people who have access to specific parts of Google’s networks, with employees based in its Chinese offices helping to facilitate the hackers.

But the latest and most interesting twist in the story is that, since the whole debacle started going down, there has been a marked increase in those using Google in China. In China, 60 percent of all internet users utilize massive Chinese search engine Baidu and only about 35 percent use Google. Since the controversy, however, recognition of Google has risen in China, which has led to more users. Their share price, however, is down as a result of the possibility that they will leave China.

For an interesting article clearing up misconceptions regarding the search engine’s involvement in China, see here.

Tags: baidu, censorship, china, Chinese government, google, hacker, hackers, inside job