I really don’t know why people get their panties in a bunch over stories like this, but they do for some reason…

Google Agrees to Censor Results in China

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer Wed Jan 25, 10:07 AM ET

SHANGHAI, China - Google Inc. launched a search engine in China on Wednesday that censors material about human rights, Tibet and other topics sensitive to Beijing — defending the move as a trade-off granting Chinese greater access to other information.

Within minutes of the launch of the new site bearing China’s Web suffix “.cn,” searches for the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement showed scores of sites omitted and users directed to articles condemning the group posted on Chinese government Web sites.

Searches for other sensitive subjects such as exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, Taiwan independence, and terms such as “democracy” and “human rights” yielded similar results.

In most such cases, only official Chinese government sites or those with a “.cn” suffix were included.

Google, which has as it’s motto “Don’t Be Evil,” says the new site aims to make its search engine more accessible in China, thereby expanding access to information.

My question… So?

Like it or not, China has laws. If companies want to operate inside the borders of a country, they have to observe those laws. It really is that simple. Google’s position is absolutely correct. They have two real choices. Either follow the law or don’t do business there. By following the laws, they provide people in China with an internet search engine they’d otherwise have no access whatsoever to.

Isn’t that better for China than Google pulling out of the country altogether?

The reality is that there are no private ISP’s in China and the few internet cafes in the country are monitored heavily by the government anyway. In reality, even if Google were to open up every single document on the web, the government controlled internet of China would keep info out of Chinese hands anyway.

Again I ask, what’s better? Half a Google? Or no Google at all?

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