Slate in on the Google-China debacle. A treat!
Great Firewall of China
By Michael Weiss
Posted Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006, at 6:28 PM ETBloggers are overwhelmingly horrified by Google’s decision to censor search queries in China. They’re also less than thrilled about Disney’s corporate absorption of Pixar, and they are noting the passing of actor Chris Penn.
Great Firewall of China: Google has announced that it is complying with Beijing’s demand that Internet users in China be restricted in their access to information—especially the democratic variety—via the mainland portal of the search giant. E-mail messaging and blog-creation features will be abandoned for Google.cn, which hasn’t stopped the rest of the world from querying “sell out.”
Matthew Ingram, a tech writer for Canadia’s Globe and Mail, writes: “It’s obvious that companies such as Google see such activity as part of the cost of doing business in a country like China, and no doubt they would make the argument that if they didn’t comply then someone else would. It’s still a sad development, however, and it certainly throws into sharp relief how the search company’s ‘don’t be evil’ mantra can be modified when necessary to fit the needs of the business.” [More…]