Google renewed its ICP license in China

[tntpower]

Finally.

It means google.cn will be able to operate legally in mainland China for at least one more year.

[bill]

Thank you for the update on that tntpower. I do notice that Google China is once again displaying its ICP link at the bottom of the page.

Has there been anything about this in the Chinese press? I haven't seen anything in the English press.

[tntpower]

Hi Bill,

I found a few Chinese media coverage on that.

eg: [p5w.net...] (Chinese)

[engine]

Apparently, it's not renewed, just yet, only submitted for renewal.

Google's China webpage license under review: government [reuters.com]

Google's application to renew its webpage license in China is currently under review with no set deadline, a government official said on Wednesday.

"Google's annual check-in is under way," Wang Lijian, chief propaganda official at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) told Reuters.

Wang said that Google's submission was "relatively late" and that he was not sure when the results would be out.

[bill]

Google says the license has been renewed now.

An update on China [googleblog.blogspot.com]

We are very pleased that the government has renewed our ICP license and we look forward to continuing to provide web search and local products to our users in China.

[lexipixel]

Does this mean the "censorship concerns" Google had earlier have somehow changed?... or did they just realize the potential profits were too good to pass -- regardless of censorship, human rights, or espionage threats?

[fauxsoup]

I think Google doesn't care about the censorship, but wants to provide the service in China anyway. Is Google standing against government censorship?

[bill]

Does this mean the "censorship concerns" Google had earlier have somehow changed?

I don't think this license actually has much to do with Google's concerns in that respect. The license is valid for 4-5 years, but it is reviewed annually. This was a review of Google's license, and it appears they are operating within the limits of Chinese law. Google is using the special conditions in Hong Kong which allow for a different legal system until 2047 to provide their 'uncensored' search.

[cooku]

Google is gone, too bad! We are China's small webmaster lost a good friend! Expect him to come back!

[bill]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld cooku.

Is it very difficult to use Google now that they redirect to their Hong Kong site?

[bill]

This is pretty much what we expected...

China satisfied with Google search engine tweak [reuters.com]

China is satisfied that U.S. Internet giant Google Inc is complying with Chinese laws after it tweaked the way it directs users to an unfiltered search page, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The comments from a Ministry of Industry and Information official largely echoed previous Chinese statements, but are still likely to be seen as good news for the company as Beijing has been coy about its long-term future in China.