Google stops censoring in China, creates "China dashboard"

Google stops censoring in China, creates "China dashboard"

by Erez Zukerman (RSS feed) Mar 22nd 2010 at 4:32PM

That's it; the deed is done -- Google stopped censoring results for China. As of this morning, users trying to access google.cn are redirected to google.com.hk, where Google provides uncensored search results.

They use geolocation to figure out when a connection is from the mainland, and provide results in simplified Chinese. Users connecting from Hong Kong will keep getting results in traditional Chinese.

Google will still maintain R&D and Sales presence in China, but the size of the sales team will "be partially dependent on the ability of mainland Chinese users to access Google.com.hk".

They have also created a new dashboard page, where the whole world (or human rights activists) can see at a glance which Google services are being blocked by China at any given day. Gutsy indeed.

I don't know about you guys, but this move wins Google major points in my mind. I am all for free speech, and I think it's rare for a company to put its money where its mouth is. Kudos.

Go there...
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/03/22/google-stops-censoring-in-china-creates-china-dashboard/

Don