Google Blames China’s Government For Blocking Gmail Users

March 21, 2011 by John divider image

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The Internet is an interesting environment. Online, people say and do things that they may not do in “real life.” It is also a means by which people can voice discontent, a platform for activists and rebels to inspire and spread information. China has long had a reputation for being averse to free speech on the internet, and online censorship in China is commonplace. But recently, this was taken a step further when journalists in the country claimed that they had their Gmail accounts hacked into. Other users claim that they have had trouble accessing the Google mail program as well.

Now Google is directly addressing the issue, claiming that their engineers are unable to find any technical problems on their end…which means that the issue has most likely been manufactured by the Chinese government. According to Google, “There is no technical issue on our side; we have checked extensively. There is a [Chinese] government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail.” Just two weeks ago, Google adds that there were sophisticated hackers who had implemented attacks against users. Google commented on this, saying, “We believe activists may have been a specific target.”

This wouldn’t be the first time that Google has had issues with Chinese government officials. In 2009, Google made the decision to move their offices from mainland China to Hong Kong, after an incident where hackers gained access to Chinese activists Gmail accounts.

The socio-political unrest in the Middle East has been contributing to a resurgence of rebellion in China, as there has been talk of a “Jasmine” revolution to potentially take place in China. Computer analysts have also noted that the Chinese government has been making their censorship infrastructure more complex, so people cannot circumvent it as easily as they could in the past.

Thus far, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has not commented on the Gmail issue.

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