Google seeks end to onerous censorship ritual in China

SAN FRANCISCO — As Google Inc.
engages the Chinese government about the company’s desire to start
delivering uncensored Internet search results there, it’s faced with
daunting negotiations over what experts say is an onerous, arcane and
constantly evolving set of standards for banned information.

Google has maintained an on-call team in China
of up to 10 employees, who are available to government authorities
ringing up with occasional additions to a non-public list of prohibited
search terms maintained by the State Council, according to a person familiar with the matter. Upon receiving an update, Google
has 24 hours to cleanse the taboo topic in question from its service,
or face the possibility of an onerous government inspection, the person
said.

In addition to the constantly changing list of
frowned-upon topics, the ultimate authority over local censorship of
the Internet can be shared by a confusing mixture of government
agencies. The murky nature of censorship in China
therefore compels Internet companies to essentially self-regulate — and
often overcompensate — for fear of inadvertently drawing unwanted
attention.

That means that as Google seeks now to sidestep censorship in China, there is no one, specific mandate the company can simply refuse to comply with.

“The list of sensitive topics is always shifting,” said Patrick Chovanec, an associate professor at Tsinhgua University’s School of Economics and Management in Beijing. “One of the issues that’s always been frustrating to Google and others is that they don’t necessarily know what the rules of the game are.”

Google, which has operated Google.cn in China
since 2006 — while voluntarily censoring local results — issued a
startling announcement earlier this month that it had been hit with a
sophisticated cyber-attack originating in China, and as a result no longer wants to censor results in the Middle Kingdom.

The company acknowledges this may mean having to pull out of direct competition in the world’s largest Internet market.

During a conference call with analysts after Google issued its fourth-quarter earnings report on Thursday, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said the company continues to censor local search results, though “A short time from now we will be making some changes there.”

But it’s uncertain which specific government agencies Google will need to engage.

According to the U.S. Congressional Executive Commission on China, the handful of offices responsible for censorship in China includes the State Council Information Office, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the Central Propaganda Department and the State Secrecy Bureau.

The Congressional Executive Commission on China’s 2009 report noted that, “Authorities and Internet companies 1/8in China3/8
continued to remove political and religious content from the Internet,
including references to 1/8pro-democracy movement3/8 Charter 08, and
Web sites relating to human rights,” among other topics.

That list of banned topics maintained by China’s government can keep companies — and Chinese Internet users — guessing.

“Everyone kind of has a good idea of what they might
be,” Chovanec said, though no one is ever completely certain. “Even
when there are laws on the books in China, they tend to be very broad and applied with a great deal of discretion,” he said.

One example of a topic suddenly disappearing from China’s Internet is news related to President Hu Jintao’s son, Hu Haifeng — which became virtually non-existent on Google.cn over
the summer, after he was named a subject of a corruption inquiry
related to business dealings in Namibia.

Speculation has surfaced that part of Google’s presentation to Chinese authorities may simply be a request for more explicit ground rules for the Internet. A Google
spokesman reiterated that the company plans to discuss how “we could
operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all” in China, but declined to comment further.

While Google
and other companies are contacted occasionally by the government about
banned topics, they’re also compelled to hazard guesses on what could
potentially draw the attention of authorities — which in turn can
result in over-compensating.

“The more they can get people to self-censor, the more effective the censorship is,” Chovanec said.

For Google,
it’s unclear how exactly the company can wring assurances from the
government about stopping censorship, when it’s largely doing the
censoring itself.

The Chinese government is meanwhile taking a firm public stand on both Google’s proposed new approach to censorship, and the apparent support for its position by the U.S. government.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a speech delivered Thursday, urged Chinese authorities to investigate the cyber-attacks alleged by Google, while describing the Chinese government’s censorship policies as self-defeating.

In a blunt posting on the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s
Web site Friday, spokesman Ma Zhaoxu responded, “We resolutely oppose
such remarks and practices that contravene facts and undermine
China-U.S. relations.”

“China’s Internet is open,” Ma said.

It appears that Google may be alone among U.S. Internet companies taking a stand on censorship in China. Microsoft Corp., which competes directly in the Chinese search market, has signaled a more pragmatic approach — Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has said publicly that the company is willing to continue heeding the
Chinese government’s requests to filter information, just as it would
follow local laws in any country where it operates.

Microsoft may well sense a prime opportunity to capitalize on Google’s new approach in China, and boost its presence in a market long dominated by local player Baidu Inc. Google, while popular with educated professionals, ranks a distant second behind Baidu in China’s search market.

A request like Google’s to stop censoring results in China is “pretty much an act of last resort,” Chovanec said, “and something you’d do only if you’re willing to burn your bridges.”

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