Google, Inc., plans to cease its recently adopted practice of automatically redirecting users of its Chinese search engine, Google.cn, to Google’s Hong Kong search engine, Google.com.hk, a site that permits unfiltered searches. Google said that it now intends to offer a link to the Hong Kong site, rather than an automatic redirect, based on the Chinese government’s threats that it will not renew Google’s Internet Content Provider (ICP) license. David Drummond, Google’s Senior Vice President-Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, wrote in a blog post that “it’s clear from conversations we have had with Chinese government officials that they find the redirect unacceptable” and that without the ICP license Google “Google would effectively go dark in China.” Earlier this year Google had announced that it would no longer censor search results on the Chinese version of its website. The full post is available here.