Google's New Foreign Policy

The recent earthquake(s) in Haiti have largely overshadowed some major news from Google today which is likely to have some serious implications on the way in which the internet continues to grow.  Google senior vice president David Drummond made a rather blunt announcement on the official Google blog regarding Google and its future 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.

 Since 2006 Google has operated Google.cn with the permission of the Chinese government under the caveat that Google censor certain search results.  At the time Google took a great deal of criticism from everyone from human rights activists to technology pundits for the decision operate a censored search in China.  This announcement will likely be met with equal amounts of praise, particularly for Google's willingness to call out China's abuse of Google's (and other's) infrastructure.  

The short term result of this move will likely mean that Google will shutter its operation in China and close down Google.cn, a significant loss to the people of China (Google.cn is the 15th most popular site in the world) and to Google. It's unlikely that China's government will cease it's policies of censorship in order to keep Google around.  Another immediate effect of this move will be to put pressure on Microsoft and Yahoo! to make similar moves, as both of those companies censor their search results in China as well.  Neither company has yet made comment to my knowledge. 

In the long term this move has the potential to result in more pressure put on the Chinese government by its citizens as well as the potential to further "splinter" the internet as Chinese search companies seek to fill the void once occupied by Google, and deliver search results that are in keeping with the wishes of the Chinese government.   

Update on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 7:32AM by Ryan Hindinger

This image of flowers and candles arranged funeral-like at the Google offices in Beijing is getting circulated a lot this morning.  Impossible to tell whether this is genuine sorrow on the part of the Chinese people or a mocking gesture, I suppose this image could be seen either way and I don't want to pretend to know for sure.