Cyber attacks, censorship may force Google to shut down in China

Search engine leader Google said it could no longer tolerate China's Internet censorship rules, after the company has been hit with a series of cyber attacks. In December, its Gmail service used by Chinese human rights activists was hit by hackers.

"We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn," writes David Drummond, SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, in the company's official blog. "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. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China." Google detected a China-based attack in mid-December, saying it was "highly sophisticated" with the primary purpose of accessing dissidents' Gmail accounts. Two accounts were affected, but hackers could only get account information rather than the content of emails. More than 20 other large foreign companies with businesses ranging from finance to energy were assaulted too, according to the announcement. In an interview with CNBC, Drummond said American companies are not only about doing businesses, but also valuing morals and principles. When being asked how the decision could affect its business, Drummond said Google China currently only generates a very small amount of revenue. Along with other Western businesses operating in China, Google has faced a great deal of criticism for following orders of the Chinese government that mandate internet search results be filtered to block out certain content. For example, typing "Dalai Lama" or "Tiananmen Square" on Google.cn returns a blank page. "We launched Google.cn in January 2006 in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results," said Drummond. "At the time we made clear that 'we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services. If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China'." This news story has not been reported by the Chinese media.