First Google agrees to censor its Internet searches to please the Chinese and comply with Chinese law, but this upsets those promoting freedom and an Internet without walls.
Then some of Google’s accounts are hacked into and Google believe the Chinese government are behind the attacks and that they are conducting a spot of cyber-spying, particularly as the hacked accounts belonged to human rights activists.
This of course angered the Internet giant who decided to retaliate. So, Google said they no longer wanted to censor their content and threatened to pull out of the country if necessary, this time much to the delight of the masses, most of whom were happy to see Google taking a stance against the super power.
Then we find out that it was a weakness in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer that was exploited by the hackers in the Google attacks and this prompted Germany and France to urge their users to stop using Internet Explorer and to switch to another browser, presumably Google’s Chrome or Firefox.
Then a wave of criticism landed on Microsoft for not following Google’s example of standing up to the Chinese.
Now we are hearing that Washington has got involved and have been asking the Chinese for an explanation on the whole Google affair.
In the meantime the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a regular briefing that China were actually the biggest victim of hacking and added that Google needs to obey Chinese law like everyone else.
“Foreign firms in China should respect China’s laws and regulations, and respect China’s public customs and traditions, and assume the corresponding social responsibilities, and of course Google is no exception” he said.
Yes the Google versus China dispute is far from over and by the looks of things is only just getting started as countries and companies start taking sides.
The latest is that Google have said they are delaying the China launch of two Android based mobile phones which were developed in co-operation with Motorola and Samsung.
Both phones were due to be launched on Wednesday with the Chinese mobile phone carrier China Unicom.
“The launch we have been working on with China Unicom has been postponed” said a Google spokesperson.
There’s been no word from Google yet on how long they intend to delay the launch for and in the meantime we’re all standing by waiting to see what happens next.
Looks like the ball is in China’s court at the moment.
