(zt) WSJ: Google Prepares to Stop Censoring in China

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704349304575116072164347864.html

Google Inc. could stop censoring its Web-search results in China within weeks, said people familiar with the matter, but the company isn't likely to withdraw from the country entirely.

Google may end up making individual agreements with different Chinese agencies to allow it to operate some parts of its business in a patchwork arrangement, said one person familiar with the talks.

"There will be a way for Google to not pull out 100%," this person said.

Google is negotiating with the Chinese government over its future in the country, Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, said this week. "Something will happen soon," he said at a media conference in Abu Dhabi.

At issue is whether the Mountain View, Calif., company can operate its Chinese search engine, google.cn, without filtering out some results—and if not, what other aspects of its operations in China could continue to function.

Google said in January it would talk to the Chinese government about operating an unfiltered search engine there but that it was aware the decision "may well mean having to shut down google.cn, and potentially our offices in China."

Since then, the talks between Google and China have ebbed and flowed and the company has made more progress with some government ministries than others, said the person familiar with the discussions.

"It's not going to be quite as clear cut as everybody has hoped," this person said. It is looking likely that Google will make agreements with specific ministries about various parts of its business throughout the country, this person said.

In addition to operating google.cn, the company has sales, research, and other operations, including investments in Chinese companies, that could be allowed to continue operating even if google.cn is closed. Google has about 700 employees in China.

The Chinese government requires that Web search engines filter out some results, such as certain political speech and pornography.

Google has expressed discomfort with having to censor search results since it launched google.cn in 2006. Back then it said the increased access to information made possible by its search engine outweighed the cost of having to filter out some results.

If Google can't reach a deal with the Chinese government over google.cn, officials could pull the plug on the site since the government controls all ".cn" Web addresses. But the company could operate a new Chinese-language Web site from outside mainland China that could still be accessible by Chinese users.

It will likely have to locate the equipment and staff that run the site out of mainland China, said Jonathan Zittrain, co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University Law School.

Google's decision to stop filtering has not been universally welcomed. Wang Chi, co-chair of the U.S.-China Policy Foundation, said that Google would be better off maintaining its current practice until China appoints new leaders, expected to happen in 2012. Those leaders may be more lenient in negotiations with Google than China's current leadership, he said.

The decision was prompted in part by a cyber attack that Google traced to China. In the aftermath of that attack, which was detected in December, Google's top executives debated whether to change its approach to China, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Schmidt initially advocated for Google to maintain its search engine in China as it could help push China's government to be more open, these people said. Google co-founder Sergey Brin argued the company had already tried that and couldn't justify censoring search results.

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• 有誌氣..。 -子英- ♀ (0 bytes) () 03/12/2010 postreply 20:17:24