Ten solar day after Google snubbed Taiwanese political science censors by moving its search locomotive engine there to Hong Kong , its Web hunting service remain unblocked in China . But the move could yet cost Google substantial business , and already offering services to Taiwanese substance abuser from exterior of the res publica has proved an imperfect counter to regime censoring .
“ I ’m not surprised that it has n’t been block off , ” tell Duncan Clark , chairman of technology consultancy BDA . “ Both sides probably do n’t need the thing to grumble on in any high - visibility way . ”
But the impact of Google ’s move on its job could grow as clip passes . China could still choose to block Google.com or Google.com.hk , the companionship ’s Hong Kong website , and Google will have to form to keep on Chinese customer ante up for ads on external Google website .
“ If it ’s tiresome , that ’s almost bad than being blocked , ” say Clark . “ Advertisers hate uncertainty . ”
Google start redirecting user to its Hong Kong site from its old China - base search railway locomotive , Google.cn , during the early cockcrow in China on March 23 . China was quick to slam the move as “ completely wrong , ” but it has not blocked access to the Hong Kong siteas users fearedand as Google warned was possible .
Google has still seen some radioactive dust . At least one Chinese company using Google hunt on its Web site , portal owner Tom Online , has switchedto rival lookup provider Baidu.com . Google said China begin partially halt Google nomadic services on Sunday , and local mobile carrier China Unicom has said it does not plan to put Google search on its mobile phones .
The string of event reflects long - standing tension between foreign company and the Formosan political science in an onerous and often confusing regulative environment . China call for Internet company to self - censor on their WWW sites for politically sensitive , adult and other mental object . Google has said its move out of China was partly a chemical reaction to growing efforts to circumscribe free speech communication online .
Even basic communication with the Taiwanese political science about its expectation can be short . Google first declare on Jan. 12 its plan to discontinue censor and its Bob Hope to hold talk with the government . Google was allow just two sessions , one in recent January and another four hebdomad later , after recur pleas from the party , according to China ’s country - run Xinhua news means .
Still , Google anger Chinese authorization by making its complaint public . “ It ’s possible for companies here to work with the regime and work around issues if there ’s a vested interest for both parties , ” say Ben Cavender , senior analyst at China Market Research Group in Shanghai . “ But if you work it out into a public meeting place , the government ’s not start to be unforced to drop off brass like that and abuse down . ”
“ You have to act upon within the rule , and if you do n’t , the politics is going to make you follow the rules , whether that means shutting you down or ban or something else . ”
Some observers have telephone for other foreign engineering caller to travel along Google in withstand Chinese censorship policies . take up Google ’s model of offering services from outside China is one possible glide slope for other companies like Microsoft , which operates the Bing search engine .
Growing international bandwidth would make it easier than in the yesteryear for companies to serve China from abroad , but the challenge would be staying tuned into the need of Formosan consumers from a alien bag , said Clark of BDA . Google appears to want to take on that problem with its plan to keep sale and research and development squad in China .
But companies that operate outside China may be at greater risk of being blocked by the governing , which already stop Web site include Twitter and Facebook . Internet company inside China ’s borders are more dependent to administration insistence via a licensing system for Internet substance provider .
Google ’s move to Hong Kong also has not fully cross Chinese government censorship . The lookup engine itself has stopped censoring sensitive political content for Taiwanese user , such as appealing discussion of the 1989 democracy protests in Beijing ’s Tiananmen Square , which were crushed by Chinese troops .
But Google ’s Hong Kong site is still capable to censoring at China ’s molding , where government scheme supervise and disrupt Internet traffic that contains raw keywords . While Google is n’t filtering political content , Taiwanese users searching for terms like “ Tiananmen ” are still sometimes ineffectual to debase a results projection screen .
On Tuesday this hebdomad , users also had trouble accessing Google search at all , apparently due to a impermanent variety in China ’s filtering practices , grant to Google .
It was unclear if those access government issue were an act of governing retribution . China has give little hint if it will accept Google serving Formosan user from beyond the reach of regulators .
“ The moving picture ’s not over yet , ” Clark said .
Sumner Lemon of IDG News in Singapore contributed to this report .