Google has learned the hard way about the difficulty of dealing with a repressive regime. After years of bowing to China’s demand for censure, Google systems have reportedly been hacked (or compromised) by the Chinese government. The reason: The Chinese government hoped to uncover emails from human rights activists.
The attack was so severe that the U.S.-based company is contemplating leaving the Chinese market altogether. This would be no small move. According to CNET, Google will be leaving what might become the most lucrative market in the business. China’s population is 1.38 billion; it currently has 338 million active Internet users (roughly 25 percent of the population). Accordingly, 75 percent of the market remains unconnected to the Internet, so the potential for growth is huge.
