China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology confirmed over the weekend that the license for Google to operate in the country had been renewed for one year. The renewal was granted to Beijing Guxiang Information Technology Co. Ltd., the operator of Google's Chinese web service. The U.S.-based Internet search firm had been in conflict over the regime's censorship policies in the wake of a hacking attack by alleged "students" who stole information on the accounts of dissidents and some source codes. That the cyber attack was traced to Shanghai Jiao Tong University does not mean it was not a government assault. There is a close connection between the extremely active "patriotic hacker" community and the recruiting of a "cyber militia" to engage in warfare, censorship, and propaganda on the Internet. China's official Xinhua news agency reported on the terms of the renewal, In the application letter, Guxiang pledged to...(Read Full Post)