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China officials warn Google to obey state Internet laws

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Chinese officials on Tuesday repeated warnings to Google that even if the company decides to leave the country, it must obey Chinese laws and continue to filter search results. Spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce Yao Jian said that Google agreed to follow Chinese laws when it entered the market in 2006 and again warned the company to continue to respect the country's legal regulations. Although Google has threatened to stop filtering search results, spokesperson for Google China Marsha Wang said Monday that the company is currently complying with censoring regulations and has not received any instructions to shut down. Last week, China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Yizhong told reporters that a failure by Google to follow Chinese laws would result in consequences, but did not state any specific actions. In February, China issued new regulations tightening restrictions on Internet use by requiring citizens operating websites to submit identity cards and meet with regulators before their sites can be registered. The new policies came as the Chinese government continues negotiations with Google regarding the Internet company's January threat to discontinue operations in China due to the country's overarching Internet censorship. Google's action was in response to a cyber attack on its Gmail service in December, which targeted the e-mail accounts of human rights activists in China and drew the ire of rights groups around the world. Google indicated that it would work with the Chinese government to find a way to allow an, "unfiltered search engine within the law as well," but also noted that if an agreement cannot be reached, it may close its offices there and shut down its Google.cn website. China responded by reiterating its commitment to open Internet, but stressed that international Internet companies must follow Chinese law. A week later, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton referenced the threat by Google in a speech promoting Internet freedom and criticizing censorship, declaring that China "risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu criticized Clinton for her remarks stating that they were harmful to bilateral relations between the US and China.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 16, 2010 (boomark / email).