Google talks tough.

[GoFlyKiteNow]

Google to stop censoring China Web results: CEO
22 Jan 2010, 0829 hrs , AGENCIES

SAN FRANCISCO: Google chief executive Eric Schmidt has said the Internet giant is still censoring Web search results in China but that will
change in a "reasonably short time from now."

Google said last week that it would no longer censor Web search results in China even if that meant it had to shut down its business operations there and leave the country.

"We're in conversation with the Chinese government," Schmidt told financial analysts in a conference call after releasing Google's fourth quarter results.

"Our business in China is today unchanged," said Schmidt, speaking a little over a week after the Internet giant revealed it had come under attack from cyber spies based in China.

"We continue to follow their laws, we continue to offer censored results," Schmidt said. "But in a reasonably short time from now we will be making some changes there."

Schmidt did not provide any further details. He said Google would like to remain in China. "We made a strong statement that we wish to remain in China," he said.

"We like the Chinese people, we like our Chinese employees. We like the business opportunities there, but we'd like to do that on somewhat different terms than we have," Schimdt said.

 

[longbow]

Search business is fast moving with many competitors. Should Google leave many would rush in to fill the void. And the companies rushing in might even be more innovative but currently have zero chance when competing with search giant Google.

Despite the censorship rules, the essential ingredients are there - fast improving internet infrastructure, huge user base, fast economic growth, increasing prosperity and solid infrastructure that aids e-commerce (you can order something over the net and have it delivered quickly and safely). Given these ingredients there will be lots of VC money companies in the search business.

 

[GoFlyKiteNow]

Google lifts the veil on Tiananmen massacre images
| 24 January 2010 | Mail Foreign Service

Posted on Sunday, January 17, 2010 3:18:56 AM by opentalk

Google has stopped censoring images of the Tiananmen Square massacre on its Chinese website. Users on Google.cn's image search can now see the iconic picture of Tank Man, among other images from the massacre in the Beijing square in 1989 - just as users on Google's other country portals, such as Google.co.uk, can.

Students and intellectuals protested communist rule for seven weeks in the square in 1989 in the face of a brutal security crackdown. Roughly 100,000 people are believed to have taken part in the protests - with up to 3,000 of those killed during the demonstrations.

Previously, the images search on Google's China website did not show images from the massacre. But Google has lifted the veil on the images within the last 24 hours as it squares off against Beijing in a row over censorship and hacking.