Quite Literally, Chinese Aren't Saying 'Google'

Google will give users a choice in hopes to appease Beijing

(AP) - Google will stop automatically rerouting users of its China search site to its Hong Kong site, the company said today, after Beijing threatened the company with the loss of its Internet license. Instead of automatically being switched to Hong Kong, visitors to Google.cn now see a tab that says in Chinese "We have moved to google.com.hk." "They made it clear to us that they did not think the redirect was acceptable," said a Google spokeswoman. She declined to say what reasons the government gave for its objections. More»

(NEWSER) - China darkened Google for 2 hours today over the site’s continued practice of returning results linking to foreign websites and “pornographic” content, the Financial Times reports. The Chinese government is unhappy that Google’s domestic website, Google.cn, allows users to search the entirety of the Internet. The outage affected only Google.com, the only way to access Gmail in China and a prime target for advertisers. More»

Tries to crackdown on 'vulgar' content

(NEWSER) - China is accusing Google, local rival Baidu, and other top search engines and Web portals of threatening public morals by linking to porn and other “vulgar” content, the Financial Times reports. Such Web censorship campaigns aren’t uncommon in China, but this is the first time it’s gone after such mighty players. More»

Baidu.com provides links to illegal sites, says report

(NEWSER) - The US has listed China's top search engine—one of the 10 most popular websites in the world—as one of the most "notorious markets" for pirated software and media, Reuters reports. Baidu.com, the most popular website within China, was again singled out by the US trade representative's office as a site that provided links to pirated material. More»

Move likely to cost firm more than $1B

(NEWSER) - Google has given all its employees a little holiday surprise: a $1,000 bonus and a 10% raise starting next year, reports Henry Blodget at Business Insider . And, citing employee feedback, Google will convert a portion of their bonuses to their salary—though merit-based bonuses will still be awarded separately. And just to be swell, Google’s paying the taxes on the $1,000. More»