So I felt like I needed to do this post to point attention to a possibly history altering event. I could be wrong but this just seems like a part of a future textbook in the section about how Google or China now controls every facet of our lives.

CSR Minute: Google Stops Censoring in China, Announces Unethical Hacking; Equator Artisan Coffees and Teas' FaceBook Store from 3BL Media on Vimeo.

arbitrary pieces of articles


Wall Street Journal

In recent weeks, as talks between Google and China failed to progress, Li Yizhong, Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said the company would have to bear the consequences of being "unfriendly" and "irresponsible."

by Siobhan Gorman


Japan Today


BEIJING- China reacted quickly Tuesday to Google Inc.‘s decision to stop censoring the Internet for China by shifting its search engine off the mainland, saying it is “totally wrong” and accusing the company of violating promises.

It was not clear whether Google notified regulators in advance about the switch to the Hong Kong service. The Chinese government could retaliate by blocking access to Google’s services, much as it has completely shut off YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. China has an estimated 350 million Internet users.

The withdrawal of its search engine makes Google the latest foreign Internet company to founder in the heavily regulated China market. Companies such as Yahoo, EBay and Microsoft’s MSN instant messaging service have never gained the traction in the China market that their homegrown rivals do.

“Business is business. But when it involves political tricks, business will come to an end soon,” the China Daily wrote.

“I feel that people will greatly respect Google’s action,” said Beijing law professor and human-rights lawyer Teng Biao. “China’s censorship of the Internet search engine results is a violation of the most basic of human rights. By doing this, Google will bring more global attention to China’s human rights situation.”


New York Times

“We got reasonable indications that this was O.K.,” Sergey Brin, a Google founder and its president of technology, said. “We can’t be completely confident.”

The decision to shut down google.cn will have a limited financial impact on Google, which is based in Mountain View, Calif. China accounted for a small fraction of Google’s $23.6 billion in global revenue last year.

In January, when Google first threatened to leave China, many young people placed wreaths at the company headquarters in Beijing as a sign of mourning. [BULLSHIT]

By MIGUEL HELFT and DAVID BARBOZA