Google's China units found guilty for tax fraud

[Tigershark]

By Yan Pei
China.org.cn, March 31, 2011

Three of Google's affiliated companies in China- Google Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Shanghai Gouxun Advertising Company, Google Information Technology (China) Co., Ltd.- were found guilty by Chinese authorities for tax fraud, the Economic Daily reported Thursday.

During routine inspections, China's tax authorities found these three companies involved in illegal tax evasion conducts including using counterfeit invoices, missing tax payments of more than 40 million yuan. The companies have been ordered to rectify thir problems and taxes and fines involved have been recovered.

Previously, in 2007, the U.S-based search engine giant were also found to have evaded over 20 million yuan in taxes.

 

[below_freezing]

Criminals must be fined and punished.

 

[rcrmj]

google's moral superiority built by evading taxes `````it seems to me those people on boards are so amateur! lol

 

[ZhengHe]

Just kick them out

 

[OptimusPrimeRibs]

This proves my point that Google is evil

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

This proves my point that Google is evil

Yeah, Microsoft/Google/Apple are the evil big three.

 

[no_name]

There have been talks within the chinese government about the need to regulate foreign charity organisations in china, lest they become even more influential than local governments as in poorer countries.

All charity liasons should be done through the government.

 

[Obambam]

Google tsk tsk... it's not their first violation and most likely not their last.

Google to face privacy audits for 20 years | News | Marketing Week

Google will be subject to privacy audits for the next 20 years, following charges that it violated its own privacy promises.

Google Buzz, its social messaging platform, was the subject of complaints, including the public listing of users’ frequent Gmail contacts and the inability to be fully removed from the social network, filed with the Federal Trade Commission last year.

The complaints were upheld, leading to today’s agreement, which will see Google undergo a privacy review once every two years for the next 20 years.

Google responded through its blog, saying, “We don’t always get everything right. The launch of Google Buzz fell short of our usual standards for transparency and user control, letting our users and Google down.”

The company says it has reached an agreement with the FTC to address their concerns and in future will ask users to give consent before their personal informaion is shared.

This incident is the latest in a string of privacy complaints for Google. Last year Buzz members sued the internet giant for violation of privacy, with Google settling by pledging to support privacy organisations and education. It was also fined for gathering personal data using unsecured Wi-Fi networks for its Streetview service.

This latest incident is likely to fuel to an already raging debate over privacy concerns across the EU.

Last week, European Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said global internet companies like Facebook and Google would be bound by European law, and that citizens had the right to proper data protection and the “right to be forgotten”.

The EU has taken a strict stance on users having full control over their data in terms of accessing, modifying and deleting.

Earlier this week UK Communications Minister Ed Vaizey questioned the practicality of implementing this. At a CBI employers’ group event in London, he said online privacy rules should reflect the international infrastructure of the internet.

 

[no_name]

My university mail system is handled by Google mail.

 

[Obambam]

My university mail system is handled by Google mail.

No sensitive emails at uni for you then. Use stuff like QQ and Sinamail at home instead

 

[no_name]

No lol. Most of it is academic related anyway.

 

[StingRoy]

What does the Google-affiliate company mean? Some partnership company in China or Google itself?

 

[Nomenclature]

What does the Google-affiliate company mean? Some partnership company in China or Google itself?

It means Google's Chinese subsidiaries, i.e. companies owned by Google but incorporated in China.

 

[gubbi]

Why is Google guilty of Tax fraud only in China, but NOT in other countries?

Or is this plain harassment?

 

[StingRoy]

It means Google's Chinese subsidiaries, i.e. companies owned by Google but incorporated in China.

So employees and people handling finances must be local... isn't it?