Great Wall of China

No, I am not talking about the 2400 KM Great Wall of China built centuries back. It may be crumbling in some places, but Chinese Government is building an invisible information wall that is supposed to keep certain information away from China. Experts tell us that, this information barrier being built by China is one of the most advanced use of technology anywhere. With strategies ranging from automated keyword filtering and Web site blocking to Internet traffic surveillance, the Chinese government has unmatched ability to censor and monitor its citizens online.

Google Blinks
Google, whose motto is Don't be evil has now become party to information censorship by China as a quid pro quo to be able to do business and physically host servers in China. Interestingly, the same Google is fighting a subpoena from the US Government and is refusing part with some search data in the name of privacy.

To be fair to Google, other giants like Microsoft and Yahoo have already complied with this censorship diktat by China and are doing business there. Very soon China will have more internet users than the western hemisphere and a market of that size is simply too hard for any company to ignore. So, when it comes to China, everyone seems to be pervious to let certain deviations take place and Google is proving to be no exception.