Google Urges Western Governments To Challenge Foreign Internet Censorship

Google urges western governments to challenge foreign internet censorship

Threat to international trade if nothing done about internet restrictions in more than 40 countries, says search engine

Google is urging western governments to challenge internet censorship in countries such as China, saying the economic implications of stifled trade will become more grave if nothing is done.

"More than 40 governments now engage in broad-scale restriction of online information, a tenfold increase from just a decade ago," the US-based technology giant warns in a policy brief on internet trade restrictions published yesterday.

The warning follows an embattled 12 months in China, where Google has had to comply with state censorship rules or risk being kicked out of the world's most populous internet market. Google yesterday denied its policy brief was sparked by developments in China, where the company lags some way behind the native Baidu in the search market, but said the country's government was capable of "arbitrary and capricious behaviour" in its dealings with internet companies.

Full story: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/nov/16/google-warns-internet-censorship-china