Google vs China

January 12, 2010
google chinaGoogle said today it might pull out of China because it found that the email accounts of human rights activists using Google’s Gmail service had been breached.

The company detected a “highly sophisticated and targeted attack” on its corporate infrastructure, with the probes coming from China starting in mid-December, Google said in a blog post. The investigation found that the attackers were accessing the Gmail accounts of activists. The company said it is no longer willing to continue censoring the results on its Chinese search engine, as required by the Chinese government. That could prompt the government to kick Google out of the country.

That would be a reversal of policy for Google, which agreed to censor search results when it created a version of its search engine for China. Of course, it would still be possible for Chinese citizens to reach Google. They can do so now through web sites that hide their identities and let them roam out on the web without being discovered. Sites such Hot Spot Shield’s Anchor Free offer this service.

It is an interesting quandary. The Chinese market is growing fast and will be important to search engine companies, but Google’s motto is “don’t be evil.” Yahoo previously came under fire for giving the Chinese government the account information of a Chinese journalist who was convicted of violating state secrecy laws.

Google said in its post that at least 20 other large companies had been attacked as well. So far, just two Gmail accounts had been accessed by attacks against Google directly. But dozens of activists have had their Gmail accounts breached in phishing or malware attacks, where individuals may have clicked on links that serve as bait for malware.(Dean Takahashi)

Perekonomian Indonesia 2010 Semakin Kuat

Target pertumbuhan produk domestik bruto (PDB) yang dipatok oleh pemerintah tahun ini sebesar 5,5 persen diperkirakan akan tercapai. Taimur Baig selaku Ekonom Senior Deutsche Bank menyatakan, pertumbuhan ekonomi global yang mulai pulih sejak akhir tahun 2009 akan memengaruhi Indonesia untuk membangun ketahanan ekonominya terhadap dampak krisis ekonomi global.

"Tingkat pertumbuhan ekonomi yang berkesinambungan dan pasar keuangan domestik yang kuat membuat Indonesia relatif kebal terhadap krisis keuangan global. Ini menjadi landasan kuat bagi perekonomian yang stabil dan pertumbuhan yang berkelanjutan di 2010," kata Taimur di Jakarta, Selasa (19/1/2010).

Deutsche Bank memperkirakan pertumbuhan ekonomi 2010 akan didorong oleh investasi dan sektor perdagangan. Ini berbeda dengan pertumbuhan ekonomi 2009 sebesar 4,3 persen yang sebagian besar didorong oleh pertumbuhan konsumsi.

"Dengan sektor perekonomian dan manufaktur yang semakin kokoh sepanjang tahun lalu, perekonomian Indonesia di tahun 2010 semakin kuat," tuturnya.

Secara global, pihaknya memperkirakan pertumbuhan PDB dunia mencapai 3,9 persen pada tahun 2010. Sementara PDB Amerika Serikat diperkirakan tumbuh 3,6 persen pada 2010, Jepang tumbuh 1,1 persen, dan negara-negara Uni Eropa yang menggunakan mata uang euro 1,5 persen.

Adapun tingkat inflasi diperkirakan mencapai rata-rata 6 persen tahun ini atau berada pada kisaran yang ditargetkan Bank Indonesia (BI), yaitu 4-6 persen.