Google submits to Beijing's control

Top internet company Google has become the latest technology company to founder against the Great Firewall of China, with the news it will censor its search engine to give it greater access to China's fast-growing market.

Human rights groups say the move by Google is the latest example of a big corporation kow-towing to the Chinese government's stringent demands on internet content.

They say Google has sold out on its corporate mantra: "Don't be evil".

Google.cn, the company's site aimed at boosting its market share in China, was launched yesterday but will censor itself of politically sensitive material to satisfy authorities in Beijing.

The new version could restrict access to thousands of sensitive terms and websites and make searching for information on topics like Tibet, Taiwanese independence and the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre even harder.

There are 111m internet users in China and the number is rising swiftly, prompting a campaign by the Chinese government to keep a beady eye on the booming sector.

But a growing market of that size is too big to ignore.

A survey during the summer showed Google was losing market share to companies like Beijing-based Baidu, in which it has a small stake.

Domestic giants like Sohu.com and Baidu.com, along with China sites operated by Yahoo and Microsoft, all routinely block searches on politically sensitive terms.

Google was working hard to minimise the PR fallout, saying it planned to notify users when access had been restricted on certain search terms and arguing it could play a more useful role in China by participating than by boycotting it, despite the compromises involved.

Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders was not convinced, describing the launch of Google.cn as "a black day for freedom of expression in China." Google insists that pulling out of China altogether would be far more damaging to freedom of communication in China.

Reporters Without Borders said US firms were now bending to the same censorship rules as their Chinese competitors.

"But they continue to justify themselves by saying their presence has a long-term benefit.

Yet the internet in China is becoming more and more isolated from the outside world and freedom of expression there is shrinking," the group said.

The Free Tibet Campaign described the move as an endorsement of censorship and repression.

"With this move, Google's motto "do no evil" is in smithereens," said spokeswoman Alison Reynolds.

"This also further contradicts those political leaders who attempt to convince us that foreign business can change China for the better: here is just one more example of where China has changed foreign business for the worse," she said.

The Free Tibet Campaign has already protested to Google about its service "Google Earth", in which the word Tibet is not recognised ("Lhasa, Tibet" produces no results in the search engine, whereas "Lhasa, China" is accepted).

Google's move in China comes less than a week after it resisted efforts by the US Department of Justice to make it disclose data on what people were searching for.

Its email, chat room and blogging services will not be available because of fears the government could demand users' personal information.

"While removing search results is inconsistent with Google's mission, providing no information (or a heavily degraded user experience that amounts to no information) is more inconsistent with our mission," the Mountain View, California-based company said in a statement.

The Chinese government already keeps a tight rein on the internet and what users can access.

The BBC news site is inaccessible, while a search on Google.cn for the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement directs users to a string of critical articles.

Chinese officials consider a hothouse of subversive thought.

Last year, Beijing recruited thousands of web watchdogs to watch over the capital's cybercafes and internet service providers.

Around 40,000 officials routinely monitor email and websites in the world's most populous nation.

Last year, Yahoo was accused of supplying data to China that was used as evidence to jail a Chinese journalist for 10 years.

Shi Tao, news editor at the Contemporary Business News in Hunan province, was jailed in April for leaking state secrets abroad, apparently using his Yahoo email account.

The Communist Party's Propaganda Department has stepped up operations at "Office 1106", an organisation which trawls cyberspace for subversion.

All websites, bloggers and bulletin-board operators must register with the government and the Beijing government has a special internet police force to be believed responsible for shutting down domestic sites posting politically unacceptable content, blocking some foreign news sites and jailing people for their online postings.

- INDEPENDENT