宜誠鼎峰社區

在日前吵得火鬧的Google是否離開中國地區一事，終於在本週有了結果。Google官方於本週一正式對外宣佈關閉「Google.cn」網站。 

Google表示這一項決定十分地沈重，表示希望有更多人可使用Google旗下服務，只是礙於中國政府官方的堅持，強烈要求廠商進行重重嚴格的內容審查，這是Google無法與其妥協的部份。 

而未來將會把旗下服務導至位於香港地區的「Google.com.hk」網站，並同時將保留相關研發與業務單位於中國地區。而在「Google.com.hk」中所提供的簡體版內容預計提供完整的搜尋服務，且將不會有資訊過濾的情形。

 

以後中國地區開啟中國便會導至香港版頁面。 (圖／擷自Google香港頁面)

 

 

 

Google離開中國地區事件源自於今年1月時，Google表示遭受駭客計劃性地攻擊，並懷疑是中國政府於背後指示，但中國官方否認此項說法。 

Google官方製作了一個頁面，用以顯示旗下目前服務在中國地區受限制或封鎖的情形

 

截至2010年3月21日的統計，Google在中國地區可使用的服務狀況。 (圖／擷自Google頁面)

 

 

而Google也表示，目前此項決定由美國總部決定，可能將會裁撤現行在中國地區的部份員工，或者是將協調轉至Google香港地區工作。Google續留在中國地區的研發及業務們也將繼續拓展相關在地化的產品服務，同時將在香港版提供簡體中文服務。 

另一方面，由於目前在中國地區使用「Google.cn」服務將會導至「Google.com.hk」，Google官方也表示可能隨時會被中國官方擋下，但仍希望中國政府能尊重他們的決策。

 

On January 12, we announced on this blog that Google and more than twenty other U.S. companies had been the victims of a sophisticated cyber attack originating from China, and that during our investigation into these attacks we had uncovered evidence to suggest that the Gmail accounts of dozens of human rights activists connected with China were being routinely accessed by third parties, most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on their computers. We also made clear that these attacks and the surveillance they uncovered—combined with attempts over the last year to further limit free speech on the web in China including the persistent blocking of websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Docs and Blogger—had led us to conclude that we could no longer continue censoring our results on Google.cn. 

So earlier today we stopped censoring our search services—Google Search, Google News, and Google Images—on Google.cn. Users visiting Google.cn are now being redirected toGoogle.com.hk, where we are offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong. Users in Hong Kong will continue to receive their existing uncensored, traditional Chinese service, also from Google.com.hk. Due to the increased load on our Hong Kong servers and the complicated nature of these changes, users may see some slowdown in service or find some products temporarily inaccessible as we switch everything over. 

Figuring out how to make good on our promise to stop censoring search on Google.cn has been hard. We want as many people in the world as possible to have access to our services, including users in mainland China, yet the Chinese government has been crystal clear throughout our discussions that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement. We believe this new approach of providing uncensored search in simplified Chinese fromGoogle.com.hk is a sensible solution to the challenges we've faced—it's entirely legal and will meaningfully increase access to information for people in China. We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services. We will therefore be carefully monitoring access issues, and have created this new web page, which we will update regularly each day, so that everyone can see which Google services are available in China. 

In terms of Google's wider business operations, we intend to continue R&D work in China and also to maintain a sales presence there, though the size of the sales team will obviously be partially dependent on the ability of mainland Chinese users to access Google.com.hk. Finally, we would like to make clear that all these decisions have been driven and implemented by our executives in the United States, and that none of our employees in China can, or should, be held responsible for them. Despite all the uncertainty and difficulties they have faced since we made our announcement in January, they have continued to focus on serving our Chinese users and customers. We are immensely proud of them.