Germany thumbs-downed the new Google browser Chrome of their own accord, citing security issues. Germany and Google have a hate/hate relationship, as evidenced by many lawsuits; Germany actually has a habit of winning against the search giant as evidenced by the victory of German-born venture capitalist Daniel Giersch in his battle to retain the trademarked name ‘g-mail’ against the encroachment of Google. In other cases, the Hamburg courts just handed down a decisions supporting photographer Michael Bernhard and painter Thomas Horn to protect thumbnails of their work appearing in Google Image search results.
Other countries are actually blocked from downloading the browser by the US government, however. Syria blocked their citizens from accessing Facebook, Skype and several blogging programs, but Google had to be responsible for cutting them out of Chrome. Iran is also on the blacklist, as are Cuba, North Korea and Sudan.
Google apologized in a way, sending out a message explaining that in order for the company to abide by U.S. export controls and economic sanctions, “we are unable to permit the download of Google Chrome in Cuba, Syria, North Korea, Iran, and Sudan.”
Yahoo and Microsoft also restrict (or are supposed to restrict) some countries from using their services, and have removed Iran from their drop down menu as a country of origin, citing “Because the United States restricts U.S. businesses from conducting business in certain countries, Yahoo also ensured that these countries do not appear in the drop-down menu.”
The restrictions are easily circumvented, either by using a proxy server or simply lying about your country – but many are incensed saying that Google is being the bad guy; never mind that orders come from much higher up. Meanwhile, the majority of people who want Google Chrome will find a way to get it.
Tags: Germany, Google Chrome, Sudan, Syria
I believe this is due to the export control of encryption. They probably don’t enforce much except when available to countries deemed enemies of the state.