China Restores Google.com

For the past two weeks, internet surfers in China have had a difficult time accessing www.google.com. 

On June 6, RSF (Reporters Without Borders) reported that Google.com was blocked throughout much of China, and that programs like DynaPass and Ultrasurf, which allowed users in China access to censored web content, were also being blocked on a large scale successfully for the first time.

The crackdown overlapped with the June 4 anniversary of the bloody 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. 

"It's always the same thing that happens in China -- they heavily censor the internet because they think people will be discussing the event," said Julien Pain, RSF Internet Freedom desk chief.

"This year, what's new is that they blocked Google at this period."

Google founders created Google.cn to work with the Chinese government in order to self-censor things the govt did not want spread -- including pornography and gambling, as well politically sensitive subjects such as Tiananmen Square and the Falun Gong sect.

It seems that the Chinese government, threatened by the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square incident, denied access to the worldwide google site to cut back on access to "sensitive" information.

On Tuesday, Google co-founder Sergey Brin was quoted in news reports saying that he believed the company may have compromised its principles by agreeing to state-ordered censorship.

RSF's Pain criticized Google for creating the site, saying it gives the Chinese government an option to fall back on if they decide block Google.com.

"If you give them the option … in time of crisis they will block it. And in the long run, they will block it."

If you leave the option open to the Chinese, you have to be really naïve to think that they won't use it," said Pain.

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