Google's commercial retreat from China shows the freedom of the web has limits, after all
Posted in: Censorship at 18/01/2010 16:00
Google's row with China is significant not as a sign that Beijing wants to exert control over the internet, but as proof that it can.
The announcement that the search engine will end its voluntary implementation of Chinese censorship law is not purely an assertion of principle. It is a recognition of an important commercial reality: the web is not exempt from the laws of global politics. If you want to do business with bullying states, prepare to be bullied.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/17/google-commercial-retreat-china-freedom
