Google Search Service Moves To Hong Kong
Google has taken a public stand against censorship. After four years, Google closed its mainland search service in Central Beijing and redirects users to its uncensored search engine in Hong Kong. Google's decision to shut down its Internet search engine in China could not only affect Google and the tech community, but global politics as a whole. Since the search service's move from Central Beijing, hundreds of staff have been let go, although research, advertising and sales teams still remain and Google continues to operate online maps and music services in China. A number of businesses are said to be reconsidering their relationships with Google. One of China's most popular web portals, Tom Online, has dropped Google as a partner and instead switched to Chinese search engine rival Baidu. Many other organizations could follow suite, popular sites including Sina.com and Ganji.com have said to have been pressured to end relationships with Google. Since Google has shut down its Internet search engine in China, Google China's engineering director Wang Jin joined Baidu, followed by former technical director Zheng Zibin. China's former general sales manager Song Zhongjia has left Google and is now the CEO of the Chinese lifestyle website Aibang.com. Google's decision to remove their internet search service from Central Beijing represents a powerful rejection of Beijing's censorship and is a symbol of a worsening business climate in China for foreign corporations. Chinese authorities have tightened their grip on the Internet in recent years, censoring Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Google and very recently Foursquare.com. The fact that Google cannot operate in China is proof of the negative effect on companies carrying on business in China. This latest step by the Chinese government to implement controls on the Web contravenes both global expectations and those of the Chinese community with respect to freedom of speech.Darren St Romain is a search marketing consultant from Toronto, Ontario. With ten years in the New Media Industry, he has had the pleasure of working with such organizations as LifeCapture Interactive, Nurun: A Quebecor Company, March of Dimes and OnCorp Direct. Since 2006 Darren has been focusing on search marketing and social media optimization. For more articles about business start ups, healthcare, dental and legal industries, see http://blog.oncorp.com Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Google-Search-Service-Moves-To-Hong-Kong&id=4998559] Google Search Service Moves To Hong KongComments [0]
