Google, the world's leading search engine, has thrown down the gauntlet to China by announcing it is no longer willing to censor search results on its Chinese version.
In a shock announcement the internet giant said the decision followed cyber attacks which appeared to be an attempt to gather information on Chinese human rights activists.
It also comes amid an increasing clampdown on the internet in China over the last year.
Google acknowledged that the decision might well mean Google.cn, and potentially the company's offices in China, would have to close.
In a post on the official Google Blog, the company outlined a December attack which it believes affected at least 20 other firms, adding: "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.
The message, headlined "A New Approach to China" and signed by David Drummond, Senior vice president of Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, adds that the firm launched google.cn in January 2006 – a decision criticised by some activists at the time – "in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results."
At the time the firm said that it would carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services, and would reconsider its approach if necessary.
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