Google in HK move to defeat censors
Google yesterday carried through on its promise to end censorship of its local Chinese search engine, bringing to a head the company's increasingly acrimonious confrontation with Beijing over its policing of the internet.
The US internet company has decided to redirect some search requests on its local Chinese service, google.cn, to its Hong Kong arm, which it said stood beyond the reach of Chinese censors.
“It's entirely legal and will meaningfully increase access to information for people in China,” David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, said in a blog post announcing the move.
“We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services.”
It was not immediately clear what steps China was planning to counter the change, which became effective in the middle of the night in Beijing.
Beijing could block access in China to both google's local and Hong Kong search sites, just as it blocks many foreign websites on the mainland.
Google's action comes four years after it first agreed to bow to Chinese censors in order to run a legal search service from inside the country. It promised in January to end the practice.
Despite Google's efforts to cast its talks with Chinese authorities in recent weeks as a negotiation over operating an uncensored service, it has been roundly rebuffed by Chinese officials.
As Google readied an uncensored service to offer to Chinese internet users in recent days, government officials in China have taken a tougher line against the company. Official news outlets have accused Google of acting as an agent of the US government in trying to put pressure on China.
Mr Drummond said the Chinese government “has been crystal clear throughout our discussions that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement.”
The announcement left a question hanging over the fate of google.cn, which will still handle less politically sensitive searches, as well as the fate of its 600-strong workforce in China and its remaining operations there.
“This is a way to keep our services in China – we are not pulling out of China,” a spokesman said. The company said it intended to continue its research and development arm in Beijing, which pre-dated google.cn, and to sell advertising to local Chinese advertisers for the Hong Kong service.
However, it said that the scale of the sales operation would depend partly on how many users in mainland China were able to access the site.
谷歌(Google)昨日兑现了其停止审查中国本土搜索引擎的承诺，该公司与中国政府在互联网审查制度上日趋激烈的对抗，由此进入关键阶段。
这家美国互联网公司已经决定，将google.cn中国内地服务上的部分搜索请求流量，转移至它的香港站点。谷歌表示，该网站不受中国审查制度的约束。
谷歌首席法律顾问戴维•德拉蒙德(David Drummond)在一份博客帖子中宣布了上述决定。他表示：“此举是完全合法的，且将显著提升中国内地人民对信息的获取。”
“尽管我们清楚地意识到，中国政府可以在任何时候封堵对我们服务的访问，但我们还是非常希望中国政府尊重我们的决定。”
目前无法立即知晓中国计划采取什么措施来应付这一变化，因为该举措是在北京时间午夜时分付诸实施的。
中国政府可能会同时阻止境内对谷歌在当地及香港搜索站点的访问，就像它在境内封堵许多海外网站一样。
四年前，为了在中国国内运营一个合法的搜索网站，谷歌首次同意遵守中国的审查制度。该公司于今年1月份承诺结束这一做法。
尽管近几周来谷歌努力将其与中国当局的商谈，说成是就运营不经审查的服务开展磋商，但它还是遭到了中国官员的一口拒绝。
随着谷歌近日来准备向中国互联网用户提供不经审查的服务，中国政府官员对该公司的态度日趋转硬。官方新闻媒体指责谷歌是美国政府的代理人，试图向中国施压。
德拉蒙德表示，中国政府“在我们讨论的过程中非常明确地指出，自我审查是不可协商的法律要求。”
谷歌的宣布，给google.cn及其在中国的600余名员工以及余下业务的命运留下了一个问号。google.cn仍将处理一些政治敏感性较低的搜索请求。
一名发言人表示：“这是维持我们在中国的服务的方式——我们不打算退出中国。”谷歌表示，它打算继续运营早于google.cn开设的北京研发部门，并向中国当地的广告商出售香港服务的广告。
不过，它表示，销售业务的规模一定程度上将取决于有多少中国内地用户能够访问该网站。
译者/何黎
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