Google Threatens to Stop Censoring Search Results in China, May Shut Down Operations Altogether

When Google entered the Chinese market in 2006, they agreed to censor certain search results, forcing many Internet pundits to question the company’s “Do No Evil” mantra. At the time, Google justified the decision by saying that opening up some information to the Chinese people was better than giving them nothing and that they’d continue to evaluate the situation in the future. It would seem that that time has come.

According to the New York Times, Google is not only considering uncensoring search results, but may pull out of China altogether. In a post at the official Google Blog, David Drummond, Google’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, writes that the decision comes in part because of a recent coordinated attack against Google and at least 20 other technology companies as well as the continued efforts of the Chinese government to resist free speech.

Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident–albeit a significant one–was something quite different.

First, this attack was not just on Google. As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses–including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors–have been similarly targeted. We are currently in the process of notifying those companies, and we are also working with the relevant U.S. authorities.

Second, we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective. Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves.

Third, as part of this investigation but independent of the attack on Google, we have discovered that the accounts of dozens of U.S.-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties. These accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users’ computers.

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These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. 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. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

Whenever Google makes a decision, it has broad implications for the rest of the Internet. The company’s decision to reassess its operations in China is an especially bold move. It will be interesting to see how negotiations between the company and the Chinese government shake out over the next few weeks.