Google in good books again
The Chinese government has renewed Google's licence to operate in China, ending a long-running dispute between the secretive state and search giant.
The ICP licence will enable Google to continue to provide web search and local products to users in China, despite irritating the Chinese authorities by redirecting users to its unfiltered search site in Hong Kong, which increased speculation the state might revoke Google's licence.
While Google made it clear it is uncomfortable condoning censorship, it sought to rebuild the strained relationship with China last month, by ceasing to redirect curious users to the uncensored site, in a consolatory move to appease the Chinese authorities.
As part of the compromise, google.cn users are now sent to a landing page where they can choose to access the Hong Kong site, google.com.hk, where censorship is lighter.
The page allows China-based users to search the web or use Google.cn services like music and text translate, which the company can provide locally without filtering.
"This approach ensures we stay true to our commitment not to censor our results on Google.cn and gives users access to all of our services from one page," said David Drummond, chief legal officer at Google.
"Ever since we launched Google.cn, our search engine for mainland Chinese users, we have done our best to increase access to information while abiding by Chinese law. This has not always been an easy balance to strike, especially since our January announcement that we were no longer willing to censor results on Google.cn," he added.
The renewal of the licence is a huge relief to the company, which feared "Google would effectively go dark in China," as it would be unable to operate without the Chinese government's permission.
While waiting for the decision, Drummond said working on a compromise was the only solution as the closure of the search engine was "a prospect dreaded by many of our Chinese users, who have been vocal about their desire to keep Google.cn alive."
Meanwhile, Apple has boosted its presence in China, despite its seemingly difficult operating conditions.
According to The New York Times, the company will open its Shanghai store this weekend, which will be one of the largest shops in Asia. With just one other store in Beijing, most Apple fans buy their devices from shady smugglers or electronics markets.
