The headline's euphemism – "…Boosts Users Over…" – makes it sound like it could allow users to access content that China wants censored. But, there's no support for that idea in the article, and I can't imagine Baidu could be involved in any sort of anti-censorship effort.
Instead, this appears to just help reduce the firewall's latency tax on non-censored content.
Given the way many of Cloudflare's SSL offerings work, it could presumably also (eventually) mean that outsiders will be able to reach Chinese customers with SSL – but only with a decrypted mid-point under Baidu's control inside China.
Instead, this appears to just help reduce the firewall's latency tax on non-censored content.
Given the way many of Cloudflare's SSL offerings work, it could presumably also (eventually) mean that outsiders will be able to reach Chinese customers with SSL – but only with a decrypted mid-point under Baidu's control inside China.