It’s been on the cards for a while, and Google has always insisted that this day would come, but to actually see it in action and not have Google back down is impressive in my book. Users from mainland China trying to access Google.cn are being redirected to the uncensored Google Hong Kong (Google.com.hk) as of yesterday morning. From there Google uses geolocation to determine whether to send results back to the user in simplified Chinese, for mainland users, or traditional Chinese for Hong Kong residents.
Of course Google is still keeping a presence in China, but for how long and to what extent going forward depends mostly on whether China steps in and blocks access to Google Hong Kong. Google’s also created a mainland China dashboard page that shows in real time which Google products are being blocked by China. So if you’re feeling aggrieved by the whole China censorship issue, or are just curious to see what’s up in Google China then, head on over to the dashboard (in English).
[Via DownloadSquad]
