Google: No Blogger Service for China

Posted on January 25, 2006

The AP reports that Google will be providing search services in China at the .cn domain name. Google will comply with Beijing's censorship requirements and free-speech restrictions. However, Google will not set-up its Gmail or Blogger service in China.

Reflecting its uneasy alliance with the Chinese government, Google isn't releasing all its services.

Neither Google's e-mail nor blogging services will be offered in China because the company doesn't want to risk being ordered by the government to turn over anyone's personal information. The e-mail service, called Gmail, creates a huge database of users' messages and makes them instantly searchable. The blogging services contain a wide range of personal background.

Google clearly wants to avoid being told to shut down a blogger's account like Microsoft did for China earlier this year when they shuttered Zhao Jing blog account at the request of the Chinese government.

The Google and China deal comes at a time when Google is refusing to comply with the U.S. government's request for search data. On a lighter note, Google Blogoscoped has set up Patriot Search to help the government collect search data (via Napsterization).

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