Google ceases China operations

Google ceases China operations

Google recently announced that it would cease operations in China. (I also linked this article to China#Internet_penetration_in_China.)

Thoughts? Implications for Wikimedia?

Eekim23:19, 12 January 2010

We are all talking about this news in China. Many people believe that the government would not only stop Google.cn but also Google.com. We can wait to see the result. If Google.com were blocked, this would be a great failure of China. But I still think: Openness is the main theme of the past 20 years in China, none can change this trend in the long term.

Mountain03:52, 13 January 2010

Mountain -

If Google were blocked in China, what would that mean for Wikipedia in China? Any thoughts?

~Philippe (WMF)04:19, 13 January 2010
 

If Google were blocked in China again, this means a more difficult environments for the whole Internet industry in China.

  • Last month, lots of rumors are there that the government would setup a white list of DNS, any website not in the white list are forbidden.
  • They also setup a law that the ISP should take responsibility of the content which served by them; this law is a evil thing that a lots of small website were shut down only because one of them contains some sensitive information.

As a professional in IT industry, sometimes I can not image who made such stupid decisions. But the fact is the government do not think so.

Just as I said in the report, the tension between the regulation/censorship system and the public on Internet will continue in the new decade.

Mountain05:00, 13 January 2010
 

See Proposal:Search engine presence. If Google ceases China operations, the Chinese search engine Baidu will be the main starting point for Wikipedia in mainland China. I wonder what our search engine presence at Baidu is. --Goldzahn 06:59, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Goldzahn06:59, 24 January 2010