14 DAY TRIAL // Google has plenty of headaches in China and one of the most recent ones is new laws requiring online and digital mapping services to have a government-issued license. All services that would not apply for one by July 1st 2011, would have been shut down.
Google applied for a license only a few weeks ago and the application is still under review. However, even though the deadline has passed, Google Maps will not be shut down in China, at least not until the government is done with the review.
Authorities have confirmed that any company that has applied for a license will be able to continue to operate in the interim. Both Google and Microsoft, neither of which have been granted a license yet, will be permitted to operate.
Amid concerns of secretive locations and sensitive data showing up online, with no way of keeping it out, China issued new legislation which regulates how online mapping companies can function.
One of the requirements is that they receive a license to operate. It's unclear how liberal China will be with this license, but Google and Microsoft, the two big foreign players in the online mapping space, may get a chance to continue to work.
That said, China has little love for foreign companies and frequently favors local competitors. What's more, it has even less love for Google which has publicly criticized the regime on censorship and hacking attempts.
While officials have not come out guns blazing against Google, they're not liking the tone and they may not be inclined to give Google a license.
However, Google did receive permission to run Google.cn even though it redirected users to its Hong Kong site, which is not censored. The company had to stop automatically redirect users as a concession. China may not need Google, but, for the time being, it doesn't want to upset big US corporations or Washington too much either.