She is a winsome wee thing, She is a handsome wee thing, She is a bonny wee thing, This sweet wee wife o' mine - Robert Burns
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China renews Google's licence
LIBERATOR OF INFORMATION Google has had its operating licence in mainland China renewed, according to the country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
The licence renewal was granted not to Google itself but rather Guxiang, the company that runs Google's websites in China. Apparently MIIT approved Guxiang after it saw that the firm was "making improvements", though it declined to detail what those improvements were.
China's official news service Xinhua reported that Google, by proxy of Guxiang, committed to "abide by Chinese law" and not provide any content that breaches the country's telecoms regulations. Those regulations are designed to stop the rank and file Chinese from getting any ideas contrary to the government's vision of social harmony.
Earlier this year Google threatened to pack its bags and leave after it had concerns with censorship and security issues. MIIT's decision to renew Google's operational licence is seen as a way of making China look more welcoming for western firms.
It's clear that Google had to be a little flexible to accommodate the Chinese government's requests and remain active in a highly lucrative market.
However the government and Google simply compromised on a convenient fiction, as reported by Wired.
Google's search page in China has a picture of a search bar which, when clicked-on by the user, transfers them to Google's search engine in Hong Kong, which is not censored. Both parties seem to have agreed to ignore this pretense that Google capitulated to the demands of China's government. µ
Tags: Google
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Let's recap the little which is known (I think in correct sequence):
1) Initially, go_ogle reported Chinese hack attacks; details vague, said to be serious breach, code stolen; break-in was facilitated by use of M$'s Internet Explorer; NSA is *somehow* gotten on the case...
2) go_ogle announces that it's standing up for principles of free speeech and is leaving China. Much hoopla in press, much fanboy cheering.
3) go_ogle implements re-direction through Hong Kong to supposedly get around censorship.
4) go_ogle announces internal ban on M$ OSs, surely to prevent further hacking.
5) Recently: go_ogle repeats "we're really going", then its CEO says a fix is in the works.
6) License okayed. Exactly what changed is unclear: the re-direction is still in place, yet so's the censorship.
The important points seem to be: Chinese hacking and NSA connection.
Since why the hacking requires go_ogle to leave China is *not* clear, I think that's the key. go_ogle standing against censorship is definitely sheer PR (corporation putting free speech ahead of profits!), so don't see any other conclusion than that was cover story for the Chinese becoming alarmed over increasing intrusions by the NSA through go_ogle, and deciding to eject them. (In line with how nowadays public statements are opposite of truth, it may be that NSA hacking started this flap!) But because the go_ogle corporate front is *useful* to the Chinese for both search and their own "face" in having it, they're letting it stay -- having made clear that they *know* it's a front.
Commie's these days, they're all about business you know.