Of course, there was a time when Google existed in China without any censorship. So what happened? In September of 2002, google.com suddenly disappeared from computers in China - the site seemed to be 'down', with a mere error message in its place. But what soon came to light was that the government had blocked Google - in the name of censorship. In China, one of the ways to censor the Web is to implement warnings and penalties in order to keep site content within the realm of what the government considers 'appropriate.' But the catch is that this is only possible if a Web company is based within China. Sites based outside of the country's borders have a different method of censorship applied to them - that of the Great Firewall of China. 'Router' switches, which are required by the Chinese government to run at the edge of each network, are China's censors to 'out of border' Internet companies. This results in all site requests and searches in China from private sector companies having to first hit this router at the border to be 'approved'. If sites contain words that the government considers unsuitable for its citizens, it will block the signal - that is, if a site isn't fully blacklisted to begin with. In place of an 'unfit' site, an error message would be displayed - and this is precisely what happened to Google in September of 2002. The reason behind the occurrence was that people still had the ability to find links to prohibited sites - and while following such links would only result in an error message, the process constantly reminded citizens of China that information was being withheld from them. Because Google was an 'out of border' company, China had no control over the search results and links it produced - even if the links were dysfunctional. So the government did the next best thing - it blocked Google altogether.
Theories began to fly that Baidu, the leading search engine company in China, also had a hand in the occurrence. As mentioned in a previous bigmouthmedia article, Baidu began gaining power at immense speed just one year ago when it was unveiled at Nasdaq. It's main competitor? Google. And it's said that a common practice among domestic Internet companies is to turn to the government with complaints about prohibited content on their competitors' sites, in hopes that consequences will follow. A cynic could claim that censorship is a handy tool - not only in politics, but also in business, but little can be proved.
While Google was started up again just two weeks after the Chinese government blocked it, problems still arose with the firewall slowing down the flow of Google's data into the country. And additional 'mini' shutdowns as a result of people trying to access banned sites only made matters worse. At the time, Google was also taking into account considerable sectors of the Chinese population which it was not reaching - mainly college students who were unable to access foreign websites on campus computers. Needless to say, the search engine company began to consider its options. The outcome? A negotiation with China to eliminate search results from sites seen as unfit by the government - hence, the beginning of google.cn. However, the negotiation does not prohibit access to the original google.com site, which still carries links to 'uncensored' pages - though following such links would still only lead to that infamous error message. And while google.cn only displays censored information, it comes unhindered by any firewalls, shutdowns, or error messages - a big plus to many internet users. And how did Google come up with its blacklist of 'inappropriate' sites? The Chinese government certainly didn't provide them with one. They set up a computer in China that would attempt to access countless sites outside its borders - and if it was blocked, it was placed on Google's very own blacklist.
While many in the US are arguing that the recent collaboration infringes on human rights in China, others are curious to know what Chinese citizens have to say on the matter. Kai-Fu Lee, the head of operations for Google in China stated that the students he comes across 'do not hunger for democracy,' and that the general feel among Chinese people on the issue is not one of depravity. He believes Chinese citizens are simply happy with technological advancements, such as search engines, which simply make their lives easier. So if this is truly the case, it would seem that everyone directly linked to the operation wins - the Chinese government, its citizens, and Google. Yet others see the procedure as a compromise, in more ways than one.
