Google.ca suffered a "sophisticated" attack some time in the last few days. In particular, the hackers targeted the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. The data sought seems to have been account information and email subject lines, rather than message content. Google hasn't accused the Chinese government of anything, but is considering closing its China operations and offices.
Secretary Clinton put out a press release this morning after its officials spoke with Google spokesmen, but didn't report any conclusions, either. The State Department says it will give a full public address on the issue next week after investigating.
One of Google's competitors claims the company's response is just posturing. According to the BBC, Baidu, a Chinese search engine, accused Google of using this episode as a way to justify what is at base a purely economic reason for pulling out. Since entering the China market, Google has lagged behind Baidu.
The Wall Street Journal, on the other hand, praised Google for "showing it values its reputation for providing a secure service to users more than a leading position in a massive and growing market." That paper also points out that, while Google isn't the leading search engine in China, it has gone from a 13.2% market share in 2006, to 35.6% now, a very respectable increase.
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