Goggle announced on Monday 3/22 that it has stopped censoring search results in China although Chinese government has been very clear that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement. Goggle has the gut to fight for its users in order to provide them Internet freedom and access to information.

It is also interesting to see how a big company like Goggle has the power to influence a country. If Goggle survives, China's online market will be completely open to the world. If Goggle failed, even like Goggle,a huge internet provider, will loss a tremendous amount of potential users. This risky move will be carefully monitored by the world. We never know when the Chinese government will kick Goggle out of the country.

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In "English-crazy China" many children are sent by their parents to one of 50,000 for-profit training schools around the country that focuses on learning the English language. Public television annually airs the Star of Outlook English Talent Competition which is possibly the largest nationwide competition in the country. In 2009 400,000 students between the ages of 6 and 14 participated in it.

This year the competition will be held online through 8D World, which runs a virtual world called Wiz World Online for Chinese-speaking kids who want to learn English. The competition will provide each contestant with their own avatar and each person will rack up points for correct. For more information click here.

Several weeks ago, Google announced that it was the victim of several cyber attacks directed at obtaining information on Chinese rights activists. The company announced that it would no longer censor search results in China and the US State Department even brought in its own remarks on the issue.

Now Twitter's CEO is making his own statements on the issue. Evan Williams has now publicly stated his support for Google's stance on censorship. Twitter has also been partially censored by the Chinese government as well as several other countries. Although Twitter supports freedom of speech, Williams has stated that the company has nowhere near the clout the Google does, reducing the ability of the company to engage the Chinese government.

What Twitter is able to do to support freedom of speech is inherent in the way Twitter is structured, according to Williams. Its open accessibility by various programs and websites allow users to access the service in ways that the Chinese government may find difficult to locate and censor. This is a subtle admission that although the company is not attempting to find ways to circumvent the Chinese government, third-party developers definitely have the capability to do it themselves.

Read the story here.

According to this article Mcafee (anti virus firm) has informed the pubic that hackers seeking source code from Google, Adobe, and dozens of other companies used unique and highly complicated methods, along with the use of an unknown hole in Internet Explorer to attack online. McAfee has never seen anything like this type of hacking outside of the defense industry. This attack has companies online on high alert. Google reported on Tuesday that hackers stole intellectual property and accessed human rights activist’s e-mails. McAfee also added that this highly sophisticated and well-organized attack has changed "the threat model" and the company is coming together to prevent this from happening in the future. The attack is said to have originated in China.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/01/operation-aurora

In the past, Google has received criticism for its willingness to censor search results in China in order to appease the Chinese government. It claimed that its participation, although censored, would provide benefits to the Chinese people through the use of its search services.

On January 12, 2010, Google has announced that it will no longer censor its searches in China. Google cites a series of cyber attacks that attempted to gather information on Chinese human rights activists. These attacks targeted at least 20 different companies.

In Google's blog, they stated that they were concerned with the implications of human rights and freedom of speech in China. A remarkably bold move, and one that the Chinese government most likely will not like.

The die has been cast. Google is no longer willing to censor their results in China and they have stated that they will exit the country if China will not allow them to operate as such. The company realizes that this may be the end of their operations in China. The impact of an exit would be significant as Google holds a 30% market share in China--Baidu holds 62%.

Let it be noted that Google is willing to take a hit in their business operations in order to follow what they believe is ethical.

Main story here at the Guardian.uk