China Redirecting Search
By Christopher Nickson
October 19, 2007
Use a search engine in China and you'll find yourself redirected to baidu.com.
Chinese search engine users have been experiencing an odd phenomenon lately. If they type a query into Google’s Chinese site – or into Yahoo, Microsoft’s Live Search or others – they’ve been redirected to the Chinese search engine Baidu, according to a report from Information Week. Baidu is China’s leading search engine.
No one knows the reason, and speculation runs from malware to displeasure with the reception the Dalai Llama received in Washington to the fact the Google has just introduced a Taiwanese version of YouTube. China refuses to acknowledge Taiwan’s independence, claiming it as part of the mainland country.
The Chinese government exercises great control over the Internet there, but so far no one has any idea whether its hand is behind the redirection.