Cheshire Cat Photo Blog(...said the Cat: 'we're all mad here....')

As the result of a “highly sophisticated and targeted attack” originating in China in mid-December to gain access to email accounts of Chinese human rights activists, David Drummond, senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer for Google stated:

“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,” Drummond’s statement reads.

Google, and at least 20 other companies, were targets of the attacks to gain access to the emails of the human rights activists. “Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective,” according to a statement by David Drummond.

A Google spokesman said that the human rights activists were in China, Europe, and the United States.

After some of its other business deals, it must be very confusing to China to work with an American corporation whose unofficial motto is “Don’t be evil.”

(Note added January 12, 2010: Tom Krazit of CNET  wrote a very thoughtful article on the topic here. A key question… If Google leaves China, will other other American companies remain? [I think that the answer is “Yes.” ] In Krazit’s words, “And the end result of all this could be that the Chinese government emerges with even stronger control over the Internet if domestic firms with fewer reservations about censorship or surveillance take their place.” CNET’s Ina Fried words the question this way: “Now that Google has said it will stop censoring search results on its Chinese Web site, a key question is whether rivals Yahoo and Microsoft will do the same.” My answer to Ina is, “Dream on!” It is refreshing to know that some corporations do not consider “business ethics” to be an oxymoron.)

(Note added January 14, 2010: The relaxation of Google’s self-censorship in China began within hours of its announcement.) (Note added January 16, 2010: “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” – Bible, John 8:32 I don’t usually quote scripture, but I thought that this quote pretty well “summed it up.”)

(Note added February 19,2010: Although the dispute with China is a month old, Sergei Brin gave no timetable for its resolution, while speaking at the TED Conference in Southern California. Personally, I believe that this is a GOOD sign. Brin also spoke about the SIZE of the Chinese government and army, in relation to the sizes of most countries. Meanwhile, CNET has cited a New York Times article that reported cyberattacks on Google, Adobe, and the “Silent 32” other companies being traced to two educational institutions in China, one of which maintains close ties to the Chinese military.)

-Bill at

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