After a spate of cyber-attacks aimed directly at Chinese human rights advocates and their foreign contacts, Google has had enough:
These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China. (Emphasis mine)
China’s police state 2.0 has a choice to make. Either allow the connectivity that brings prosperity in the age of global, technology-driven economies, or disconnect and go back to the way things were. I doubt the communist party really wants to make the latter choice.
