As part of a global expansion of privacy technology campaign, online search giant, Google, has announced it will make users’ searches more private to push back against hackers and government surveillance.
Making intensive efforts to improve information security, Google has already begun encrypting searches of Chinese users to counter country’s tight censorship regime known as the Great Firewall of China. In China, the government intercepts user searches to stop people finding out about or sharing information on sensitive subjects such as “Dalai Lama” or “Tiananmen Square”.
Google took this step in response to Edward Snowden’s release of National Security Agency documents last year which detailed the extent of NSA snooping and surveillance of the internet.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Niki Christoff, Google spokeswoman, said: “The revelations of this past summer underscored our need to strengthen our networks. Among the many improvements we’ve made in recent months is to encrypt Google Search by default around the world.”
“This builds on our work over the past few years to increase the number of our services that are encrypted by default and encourage the industry to adopt stronger security standards.”
Although the search engine giant accounts for only five percent of China’s search market after the company reduced its presence in China in 2010 follows its clashes with the nation’s authorities over demands to censor searches or redirect people to government-approved site, this move of Google will surely will frustrate the Great Firewall of China, as well as anyone else spying on Chinese internet users.
The news followed Eric Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman, speech in which he said, “We can end government censorship in a decade” through expanding encryption.
Chinese Officials are yet to respond to the questions about Google’s encryption decision.
