Chinese authorities are telling Google's partners to comply with government censorship laws or face the consequences. Specifically, they should be preparing backup plans in case Google decides to
stop censoring the results of searches on its local Chinese-language search engine, Chinese government information authorities insist.
According to the New York Times, the warning
indicates that two months of negotiations between Chinese officials and Google over government censorship have reached gridlock -- "making it more likely that Google will end up shutting down its
Chinese search engine." Furthermore, the warning is an effort to prevent broad service disruption among Chinese Web users should Google pull out of the country. According to numbers cited by The
Times, Google presently controls nearly 30% of China's Internet search market.
Read the whole story at New York Times »