China Redirects Google.cn to Google.com.hk; Seeking Reports!
Google announced today on its official blog a decision to redirect traffic to Google.cn to Google.com.hk, following a row that had observers wondering if Google would pull out of China entirely. From the official Google blog:
So earlier today we stopped censoring our search services—Google Search, Google News, and Google Images—on Google.cn. Users visiting Google.cn are now being redirected to Google.com.hk, where we are offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong. Users in Hong Kong will continue to receive their existing uncensored, traditional Chinese service, also from Google.com.hk. Due to the increased load on our Hong Kong servers and the complicated nature of these changes, users may see some slowdown in service or find some products temporarily inaccessible as we switch everything over.
Google also announced a new page on which they’ll be keeping track of which Google sites are available in China at any given time. Although we’re not sure what their methodology is for finding such information, you can help us (and perhaps Google) by crowdsourcing reports of blockages and accessibility on Herdict.org!
About the Author: Jillian York
Jillian C. York is the Project Coordinator for the OpenNet Initiative and the part of the Herdict team that you should contact if you have any questions about other-language instances of the site or international press. She created most of the textual content on the site, so if you spot something funny, let her know! She's also the face behind the @Herdict Twitter feed.
