Google’s Back On In China…Mostly

Today’s big thing: Google’s lights are back on in China after a longer-than-was-really-necessary-you-guys bruhaha that saw Google damn near shut down Chinese operations entirely. Long story short, Google has promised to end its auto-redirect from google.cn to the unfiltered Hong Kong site, which Chinese government officials have deemed ‘unacceptable’. At the time of writing it does still redirect (save for, like, text translation), so maybe that hasn’t gone through yet. But the good news for Google and millions of its Chinese users is that the government has approved Google’s application for an ICP (not Insane Clown Posse) license renewal, meaning for better or worse, Google will go on in China. I suppose the head-scratcher now is how Google will go on, what with its commitment not to censor, and China’s government’s commitment to, y’know, do exactly the opposite of that. Personally, I have a feeling this ballyhoo is far from over, and Google’s fight for survival in China will continue to be newsworthy stuff for the next little while. But I’ve been wrong before. For a fluffier version with more big words, Google’s blog has all the particulars.