Google has been routinely encrypting web searches conducted in China, and says it will soon hide the search terms for internet users worldwide.

Google has been covering the tracks of Chinese citizens in an attempt to thwart the nation’s Great Firewall, as it is colloquially known.

The company says it is looking at expanding the privacy technology worldwide, to protect all internet users from the government intelligence agencies, police and hackers who currently enjoy almost unfettered access to unprotected information.

At the moment it means when Chinese authorities try to filter search terms including “Dalai Lama” or “Tiananmen Square,” they are confronted with a string of indecipherable symbols.

“No matter what the cause is, this will help Chinese netizens to access information they’ve never seen before,” said Percy Alpha, the co-founder of GreatFire.org, an activist group that monitors China’s Great Firewall, told the Washington Post.

“It will be a huge headache for Chinese censorship authorities. We hope other companies will follow Google to make encryption by default.”

Google says searches made from most modern browsers will all be encrypted soon, but the actual completion date for a worldwide rollout remains unclear.

The moves come after a recent address by Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt, who said; “We can end government censorship in a decade” through expanding encryption.

Similarly, international fugitive and government spying whistleblower Edward Snowden’s recent public address at a tech conference said it is up to companies and developers to create new levels of encryption and security to be included by default.

Google spokesperson Niki Christoff said in an e-mailed statement to the newspaper that the leaks provided by Mr Snowden had prompted the company to take on its new guardian role.

“The revelations of this past summer underscored our need to strengthen our networks. Among the many improvements we’ve made in recent months is to encrypt Google Search by default around the world,” Ms Christoff said.

“This builds on our work over the past few years to increase the number of our services that are encrypted by default and encourage the industry to adopt stronger security standards.”

Some insiders say most of the people who use Google in China would already know ways to encrypt their own searches, as mainstream Chinese users still prefer state-sanctioned search engines.

It is also possible that the Chinese government will respond by blocking access to Google entirely.

Internet freedom advocate Jeff Chester believes it is a small step in the right direction.

“It’s a good move to encrypt as much as possible, but I really think Google is grandstanding here,” he said.