In a post on the Official Google Blog a couple of hours ago, David Drummond, SVP Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, says that Google and other organizations have been the targets of attacks from China, and that Google may suspend operations within China.

He characterizes the attacks as “highly sophisticated” and “targeted” — though his description doesn’t really describe the sophistication — and it seems to be much like what we’re seeing in terms of attacks against the Tibetan exile community and Tibet support groups [TSGs] in general.

He specifically says the more than twenty attacks they identified, had as a primary goal:

“…accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.”

He cites a number of reports, including the GhostNet report, which you should read if you’d like a little more detailed analysis of how some of this stuff takes place.

And here’s the punchline:

“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.”

Whoa! He used the word censoring here! I don’t recall that Google described their actions as censorship when they first started filtering results at Google.cn…

This is a welcome step forward, assuming they follow through, and I applaud their willingness to listen to others who have been criticizing Google’s decision (to provide censored search results in China) from the beginning, as well as (now) to respond to the  censorship and repression of free speech that we see spreading now.

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We are a species that communicates by telling tales, and we learn from the stories told by others.

YaleGlobal Online carried an interesting article [part II is the part you want to read] examining China’s dual standard when it comes to interference in what they call their “internal affairs.” China strongly opposes the granting of visas to His Holiness the Dalai Lama when he visits countries around the world — calling it “interference in China’s internal affairs.” However, the attempts by the Chinese to block the Dalai Lama’s appearances can just as easily be interpreted as Chinese attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. They have succeeded in many countries, and notably failed in countries such as Germany and France. And particularly in the US, where the Dalai Lama received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007, and in Canada, where he received honorary citizenship in 2006.

Here’s what YaleGlobal said about their two-part article: “China, a significant beneficiary of globalization, is happy to go out into the world, but seems less willing to let the world come in, according to writer Frank Ching. In fact, China, which asserts that it does not interfere with the internal affairs of other countries, appears to do the exact opposite, especially with regard to issues surrounding alleged separatism in China. Notably vocal whenever a foreign leader meets with the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama or a country grants him a visa, Beijing claims that such actions “grossly interfere” with China’s internal affairs and “hurt the feelings” of the Chinese people. For a country that prides itself on having signed more human rights treaties than the US – certainly a mature approach to international affairs – such a reaction seems oddly truculent. Indeed, as Ching argues, globalization is a two-way street where the benefits hopefully compensate, even outweigh, the loss of sovereignty. Rightly or wrongly, China seems yet to agree with such logic. – YaleGlobal”

[1] Julius Genachowski, Chairman of the [US] Federal Communications Commission, on net neutrality

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This June 16, 2009 c|net article —  Google’s censorship struggles continue in China describes many of the ups and downs. I’ve written a few articles about this relationship, including Censorship as Punishment and Search engines’ blocking in China “improves.” [See also the Related articles section below]

Google is reported to have around 15% of the online search market in China, compared to 75% for Baidu.com. Both companies comply with Chinese government site blocking (censorship) regulations. [Network World article cites the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) as the data source – they publish periodic reports on Internet use in China]

CNNIC’s reports are quite interesting, and for a statistician they’re a lot of fun to puzzle through. For instance, of 338 million Internet users, the “accounts or passwords of 110 million were stolen.” And among all users, 320 million (94%) are on “broadband” – but note that 46% of users access the Internet from “mobile” connections…which seems to me like they would in no way be considered broadband. Also, 28% of mobile Internet users said they would access the Internet by 3G mobile phone – what are the rest using? Maybe wi-fi is considered mobile Internet? Anyone have the answer?

Previous articles I’ve written on Google and censorship in China:

Censorship as Punishment

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The post The Onion- Internet adds 12th website appeared first on Sky's Blog.

Of course this is a fundamental human tendency – to do things we’ve seen done elsewhere. In criminology it’s called “copycat crimes.” And certainly these regimes consider those who do this kind of thing to be criminals.

The post Censorship- Monkey See, Monkey Do appeared first on Sky's Blog.

[2] Here’s the source report in The Guardian. And a quote:

Earlier in the day, the main state and communist party media – Xinhua and People’s Daily – condemned Google for providing links to pornographic websites through its search engine. Last week, the government ordered the US company to halt foreign website searches as a punishment.

See also my notes on China’s Golden Shield.

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From the New York Times:
China Requires Censoring on New PCs
By ANDREW JACOBS
Published: June 8, 2009
BEIJING — China has issued a sweeping directive requiring all personal computers sold in the country to include sophisticated software that can filter out pornography and other “unhealthy information” from the Internet.

The rules, issued last month in a government directive, ratchet up Internet restrictions that are already among the most stringent in the world. China regularly blocks Web sites that discuss the Dalai Lama, the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters, and the Falun Gong, the banned spiritual movement.

Called “Green Dam” — a reference to slogans that describe a smut-free Internet as “green” — the software is designed to filter out sexually explicit images and words, according to the company that designed it. Computer experts, however, warn that once installed, the software could be directed to block all manner of content or allow the government to monitor Internet use and collect personal information.

On Monday, Green Dam’s own Web site offered a hint of discontent over the filtering software. On the bulletin board section of the site, one writer described it as a “web devil” and several users complained that pornographic images slipped through or that their computers had become painfully slow. “It seems pretty lousy so far,” one posting said.

By Monday night, however, most of the comments had been deleted.

A similar debate has swirled within the librarian communities and library users in the US and Australia, where filtering software is in widespread use. In the US it is referred to as content filtering but it may also be called blocking. Schools have filtered on their computers for years, where it is not really a civil rights issue, but the majority of US libraries have not. Some libraries in the US have warning signs next to their computers making parents aware that content on the computers is not filtered. In the US this is generally regarded as a constitutional issue related to the right of free expression (being a part of the first amendment to the US constitution, adopted by Congress in 1789 and sent to the states for ratification). The American Library Association Bill of Rights, adopted in 1948, has been cited many times in the debate — librarians, in general, seem to want to preserve the right of access to all materials, and this would apply to Internet-based materials (web or otherwise).

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One of Sam’s recent projects (it’s a couple of years old now) involves a group of Chinese-speaking (reading and writing as well) Tibetans who live in Dharamsala and spend their time chatting with people inside China. About what it is to be a part of the Tibetan culture and how it relates to the rest of China. It’s an actual project with financial supporters and employees, and you can contact me if you’re interested in helping support it. Sam also spends a lot of time in the Tibetan exile settlements in the rest of India, but that’s another story.

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