Today an unusual piece of news called for attention in my work. Google is threatening to shut downs its operations in China, which likely would lead to the blocking of all Google services in the country.

As we have an office in Being and we use Google Apps for email and calendaring, we need a backup plan. Nothing too difficult, but good that we do not rely on it for office applications completely as that would have caused a bit more work.

Meanwhile the story is intriguing to follow.

Since arriving in China in 2006 under an arrangement with the government that purged its Chinese search results of banned topics, Google has come under fire for abetting a system that increasingly restricts what citizens can read online

Google now said that it would stop cooperating with Chinese Internet censorship and consider shutting down its operations in the country altogether, citing assaults from hackers on its computer systems and China’s attempts to “limit free speech on the Web.”

Human Rights and Free Speech organizations are pleased with Google’s standpoint and calling it “both the right move and a brilliant one”.

It does not seem likely the Chinese government will let Google leave, possibly starting a technologic exodus, but it is hard to say really.

Google is very serious about this as you can read in A new approach to China.