WordPress and Google stand up to China
By Pulkit Sharma

Every week, Indian media reports on how China is trying to intimidate us.  Grabbing land in Arunachal and JK, granting special visas to Kashmiris, blocking our World Bank loans and so on.  The Indian Govt has tried a diplomatic approach in the past which has not worked.  It seems a bully only understands the language of force. 

Now that the Indian Government has decided to stand up to such intimidation, China is backing off. China does the same to every country and business if it thinks it can get away with it.

Today, the official Google blog announced a new approach to China.  The official Google blog reports

“
Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident--albeit a significant one--was something quite different.

First, this attack was not just on Google. As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses--including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors--have been similarly targeted. We are currently in the process of notifying those companies, and we are also working with the relevant U.S. authorities.

Second, we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective. Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves.

Third, as part of this investigation but independent of the attack on Google, we have discovered that the accounts of dozens of U.S.-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties. These accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users' computers.

These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. 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.

Posted by David Drummond, SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, Google
“

In an ideal world, every human being will have the basic freedoms of speech, assembly, movement and the right to worship their Gods. China, like many totalitarian regimes, does not stand for such universal values.

Google stands to lose as much as half a billion dollars if it pulls out of China.

Last year, China offered a deal to popular blogging platform Wordpress.  Toe the official line by censoring Tibet and human rights and handover details of human rights activists to the Chinese Government, and we will allow Wordpress to do business in the country.

Wordpress boss Matt Mullenweg stood up to China and told reporters: “I started thinking about the DNA of the company. That sort of company is not one I would wake up every day and feel passionate about working in.”

China has blocked Facebook, Twitter, Hotmail and just about any piece of software that threatens the absolute power of a few self appointed leaders. Many Asian Governments keeps an eye on some dissidents, but China has spent billions of dollars to suppress democratic aspirations of its own people.

Both Google and Wordpress have to be praised for standing up to China. Perhaps it is time for the rest of the world to do the same.  While a boycott will never be feasible, Gandhian peaceful protests on the internet may show China that the world wants equal partners and not bullies on the internet.