Chinese firm sued over Google ban

Beijing: A Chinese man threw a rare official spotlight on the country’s Internet controls when he sued a state owned telecom operator for denying him access to US search engine Google, documents and reports showed on Friday. Authorities in China impose strict limits on the Internet, censoring domestic content and blocking foreign websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube using a system known as the “Great Firewall”.

Wang Long, who describes himself as a “law worker”, sued China Unicom over his lack of access to Google at the Futian People’s Court in the southern boom town of Shenzhen, which neighbours Hong Kong. On his account on China’s Twitter like Sina Weibo, Mr Wang said that China Unicom’s lawyer hesitated to answer when the judge asked whether Google’s websites can normally be accessed. Eventually, the advocate said that he was “not sure whether he can tell (the court) or not”, sparking laughter from the gallery, Mr Wang said. He added that the judge ordered the clerk to record that the websites were not accessible, but it had nothing to do with China Unicom. Mr Wang has also sued China Mobile, another state-owned telecom carrier, and the court agreed last week to hear the case, another document on the Shenzhen website showed.