BleepingComputer.com: Google thinking of leaving China

Google has threatened late Tuesday to pull out of its operations in China after it said it had uncovered a massive cyber attack on its computers that originated there. Google said that it had found a “highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China.” As a result, the company said, it would no longer agree to censor its search engine in China and may exit the country altogether.

Source : http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/world/as...beijing.html?hp

The government of China is not a friend of the USA. They are quite willing to use their own people and our short sighted corporations to further their own interests.
I just hope we come to understand this as a nation before we are reduced to a servant state.
Best Regards
Nawtheasta

In fact, Google has leaked rumors of leaving the Chinese market for other reasons. Beginning in 2004 Google uploaded 17,922 books belonging to 570 Chinese copyright holders onto its digital library in the past five years, without permission from the copyright holders. According to Google's initial list provided at the end of 2009, Google's digital library has a total of eighty thousand Chinese books, which involved about 8,000 kinds of books and 2,600 members of the Chinese Writers Association. Such behavior will inevitably draw criticism from interested parties. From November 18, 2009, representatives of the relevant parties have negotiated, but the process has been slow, delayed again and again. Even when there was no excuse for further delay, Google just made apologies and refused to talk about the crucial issue of compensation. Now, it suddenly claimed it wants to leave the Chinese market, and this again highlights that Google is trying to get rid of the issue.

Pasted from <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90778/90860/6868753.html>

The news of digitizing copyrighted Chinese books is present in Chinese news papers only. You have to keep in mind that news in China is fully controlled by Chinese Govt.

It also appears hard to believe that Chinese Govt can control Google search engine, has Great Firewall installed, controls what to show and what not to show on the internet, even some portions of Google services are not allowed in China, but fails to stop Google digitizing copyrighted Chinese books for over 4 years.

I see it as an excuse of Chinese Govt, ready for the people of China, in case Google leaves China. What would they say why Google left?

Google faces book case trial in France

By Dominique Chabrol (AFP) – Sep 23, 2009

PARIS — French publishers and authors face off in court against Google on Thursday when their three-year bid to fight the Internet giant's plan to scan and sell books online goes to trial.

"We need to be able to deal with Google on a solid legal basis," said Herve de la Martiniere, whose eponymous publishing group controls the Seuil publishing house, which in June 2006 filed the complaint against Google France and Google inc.

Backed by France's 530-member Publishers' Association (SNE) and its SGDL Society of Authors, the plaintiffs are contesting Google's 2005 campaign to digitize books without the prior authorisation of publishers or authors.

"It is unacceptable that someone would arrogantly take your books and digitize them without asking," de la Martiniere told AFP.

He reckons 3,000 to 4,000 works published by his group have been digitized by Google without his consent.

Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/artic...7aVdG5nvCnbiPwA

I don't see China written anywhere in that article.
In France, Google started digitizing with permission of French govt. helping them digitize their national library. When publishers objected, matter was settled in court. In USA, it has been done with help of Google and Microsoft. You can find whole libraries (with copyright expired or not found) on archive.org or Google books.

Each country has its specificity.
America is not the whole world...Google and Microsoft can not practice from America to spread to the entire world.to are American companies are not company owned the whole world!
They must respect the rules that apply to each country regardless of how the country is called.....

If you ask me they shouldn't be in China in the first place. Supporting a country that is in constant violation of human rights, only encourages them more, and they get away with it.

Just my 0.02$

-Steve J. Radonich IV

I think more companies other than Google should pack up and leave. I think all American companies should pack up and leave and bring those jobs and technology back to the USA and start having people who want our services and tech pay for it instead of stealing it in plain sight of the world.

Just reading this, and I've discovered these BBC articles here:

Old news (13th January): Google 'may pull out of China after Gmail cyber attack'
Yesterday's news (24th January): China rejects claims of cyber attacks on Google

Somehow I get the impression that this is going to be one of those things that simply doesn't go away

America is not the whole world just he fall guy for the whole world. We take the wrap when we help and then are slaughtered in the media when we do not. Who was the biggest leader in the internet creation? It is ignorant as well as insulting to call out the American population over such ridiculous banter. This is about China. The second we realize that China is at war with everyone the better we will all be. Read "The Art of War" these people love that we are hung up on these small today issues that dont amount to anything but a few bucks in the overall picture. China doesnt fight a war on a dailey basis they are fighting a war on a hundred year, or even longer, basis. They intend on being a mast race and work like ants in a colony to make this happen. The concave and basic vision of the masses plays right into this. We couldnt even stay on target and talk about this Google and China issue it had to go else where..lol. All i can say so most can understand me is, " Baaaa Baaaa Baaaa". Did all the sheep hear me?

Globalization is a joke. Just ask the 16 Million unemployed. China’s economy is expanding while ours is retracting. We have allowed our manufacturing base to move production to China simply because of cheap labor not because they have any special expertise. Yes, we may get cheap sneakers but when wages fall because good manufacturing jobs have left it will be all we can afford.
Best Regards
Nawtheasta

Quote

You have no idea how much money US corporations are making by selling goods and services to the rest of the world through Globalization. Not only that, they can have their work done cheaper by dumping the work in low wages economies like China, India and Brazil. So they are enjoying it both ways.

I guess I should expand on my globalization comment. It is not a joke for corporations. Say there was a factory making consumer goods that had been in your town for generations. In the 1980’s or 90’s they may have come to realize that if they laid off 95% of their employees and established a joint venture in China the profitability of the corporation would increase dramatically. Many companies did this. Turning well run and efficient factories into warehouses for the imported goods. So to a corporation globalization is a tool to greatly enhance profitability for the share holders
To the employees the effect of globalization is direct and overwhelmingly negative.
Many times folks need to work more then one job to equal what they earned previously.
Health and other insurance benefits are extremely costly to maintain when an individual tries to continue what they had.
A secondary cost that is rarely mentioned or considered is the vendor infrastructure. Companies that build industrial machinery, machine shops, freight lines, power companies all lose a customer when a company transfers work to China. Conversely the Chinese companies that supply their factories gain a customer.
The skills of our workforce will atrophy. With less manufacturing the need for machinists, welders, machine designers and others will be in less demand.
Multiply this by thousands and you have what we have today. A contracting US economy and a rapidly expanding Chinese one.
The theory behind free trade is that both countries gain by having a larger market for the goods they produce. This is twisted and subverted when the higher wage country allows the transfer of sophisticated manufacturing as we have done. Trade between similar economies like Canada, Western Europe, Japan and others would benefit us. Without some sort of equalizing tariffs the so called free trade with an immense low wage country like China can only waken us as a nation as it is clearly doing.
Best Regards
Nawtheasta

I completely agree. The US Govt should take steps so that globalization does not become a nightmare for common American.