Google Says China Has Renewed Its Content Provider License - PCWorld

Google Says China Has Renewed Its Content Provider License - PCWorld: "The Chinese government has renewed Google's Internet Content Provider license, the company announced Friday in an update to an earlier blog posting.

'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,' the updated post said."
_____________________________________________________
Is this the first crack in "The Great Chinese Firewall"?   Google stood up for the free flow of information, a basic human right, by redirecting it mainland severs to an uncensored Hong Kong server.   This allows Chinese users to freely search the web. The problem is however that when they click on certain sites or domains they cannot access them due to China's wall of censorship.  Websites which contain what China considers "sensitive" information" are blocked.

This blog cannot be seen in mainland China, but it is viewable in Hong Kong.  I have a tool which allows you to see which sites China blocks, on the right side of this blog (Website Test Tools).  Pull down the drop down window, under the "HTTP" tab and select the "Chinese Firewall Test".  You can then enter a web address and test whether that site is viewable either in Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong.

Google's license renewal is a small victory for freedom of speech in China.   China has made a wise decision.  It is time it drops all censoring of websites. China cannot be considered a great, modern nation until it takes this step.   Chinese citizens need more than just the right to see search results for "sensitive sites"  They should have the basic right to view them.

John H. Armwood