In a sign Google wants to put its recent international conflicts behind it, the company has welcomed the renewal of its operating license in China after compromising on censorship, while apologizing again for the Street View controversy.
The Chinese government today confirmed Google’s operating license has been renewed, after the search giant revealed the decision in a one-line blog post Friday.
Google angered China in March, when it began redirecting search queries from mainland China to its uncensored Hong Kong site.
But late last month, the company compromised by resuming censoring of queries, but providing a link to its Hong Kong site on the Google.cn landing page to give users the option to conduct unfiltered searches.
Google, through subsidiary Google Australia, has meanwhile apologized again for the Google Street View packet data controversy.
The apology was prompted after an investigation by Australia’s privacy commissioner determined that Google broke Australian law by collecting the data.
But the company revealed it will next week resume image gathering via its Street View fleet in Ireland, Norway, South Africa and Sweden, Reuters said.
Cars used to gather images have been modified to no longer collect any form of Wi-Fi information.
The revelation that Google's Street View fleets had been inadvertently collecting fragments of packet data led to an outcry from regulators around the world, and investigations in the US, Germany and other countries.