Google.cn Redirected To Google.hk

Google's long and drawn out public battle over censorship on the internet with the Chinese government continues. Google as made a decision to halt the practice of censorship in China. As of yesterday, all traffic to Google.cn will be redirected to the uncensored and Hong-Kong-based Google.hk. Google isn't sure exactly how the Chinese government is going to react to this decision of theirs, but according to Google, the redirect is "entirely legal." Google's SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond, had to say the following about the whole ordeal:

We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services. We will therefore be carefully monitoring access issues, and have created this new web page, which we will update regularly each day, so that everyone can see which Google services are available in China.

If you are reading this in China and are finding the Hong Kong version of Google to be a bit slow and/or unresponsive, Google wants you to know that this is expected for now since the servers are currently being stressed with a massive influx while it works to sort everything out. Google also mentioned that they want to continue research and development in China and also maintain a sales presence there, although the size of the sales team will be partially dependent on the ability of mainland China users to access Google.com.hk. The Google team also clarified that this decision to redirect mainland China users to their Hong Kong site was a decision made by the executives in the United States and has nothing to do with their employees in China.

How do you think the Chinese government will react to Google's actions? Share your thoughts and comments below.