Editorial Summary

Online map services offered by Sohu’s (Nasdaq: SOHU) search engine Sogou (map.sogou.com) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) China (ditu.google.cn) reveal confidential Chinese geography, reports People's Daily. The report said eight Chinese ministries including the Ministry of Industry and Information (MII), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, and Ministry of Public Safety will be investigating online mapping services from April through the end of the year. Previous reports quoted State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping deputy director Min Yiren as saying there were almost 10,000 illegal map websites in China, and that offending websites would be punished or shut down. This is the first time since the original online map regulation announcement that specific companies have been mentioned as offenders by official news outlets.