Report: Google “99.9 percent” sure to close site in China as censorship negotiations founder
By APSaturday, March 13, 2010
Report: Google near certain to close China site
NEW YORK — A newspaper Web site is reporting Google Inc. is “99.9 percent” sure to close its search engine in China after negotiations over censorship stalled.
The Financial Times cited an unnamed source familiar with the company’s thinking when it reported Saturday that Google has drawn up plans to shutter Google.cn. The newspaper did not say when the company would shut the site.
A Google spokesman declined to comment on the report.
It comes a day after China’s top Internet regulator reiterated that Google must obey its laws or “pay the consequences.”
Google announced in January that it would stop complying with China’s censorship rules after it discovered hackers had fooled human-rights activists into exposing their e-mail accounts.
