By now you've likely seen the news which has plastered almost every technology site and news site on the 'net. After reports that Chinese human rights activists Gmail accounts had been hacked Google are now reconsidering their position in China, and whether to go on serving results but in an unfiltered state, or to pull out entirely. Google have reported that information from at least two accounts have been accessed, but not the contents of the emails.
sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China
Although their allegations are not aimed directly at the Chinese government and their practices, it is implied that they believe the government was involved. Due to seriousness of such allegations this has meant further involvement from US officials in order to get answers to the serious questions that these actions pose.
Once the news was announced Google's shares dropped by 1.1% which means no matter what they decide to do it has already cost them. It is estimated that if they do pull out of the Chinese market it will be costing them $600 million for 2010 which personally I think is an awful lot to lose! If they decide to go ahead with pulling out of the market then they are taking a stand against the Chinese government's policies - but I don't think they're going to actually pull out of that market, even if they don't manage to negotiate a way to legally unfilter the results. When Google initially entered the Chinese market they did so under extreme fire from people who thought it was wrong for them to be negotiating a filtered engine, but they did it anyway saying that it would benefit people more for Google's search engine to be available. If they were to remove it now, although justified and understandable, would be to go against what they had said to convince people they weren't evil.
I guess all we can do now is to watch eagerly as to whether the great firewall of China finally crumbles...
