Well, I was almost tempted to weigh in on the Great Google Melodrama, but Mr Bamboo saved me the trouble by writing pretty much what I wanted to write in this concise paragraph:
Another entry raises a question about Google censoring certain search terms and functioning within the law. If Google.cn ceases to censor search terms, then isn’t it breaking the law? Thus Google can’t negotiate because it can’t somehow be exempt from the same laws which apply to everyone else. Like any other government, the boys in Zhongnanhai aren’t about to concede anything.
Exactly.
And will everybody please just calm down? Google is not the internet. Baidu is not the only alternative. Any hypothetical shutdown of all Google services from inside the Mainland would be a pain in the arse, but is in no way equivalent to Mars colliding with Earth and the Sun exploding. This will all blow over and we’ll go on to have a 2010 with many more things to overreact to.
That said, I am a little concerned at the possible advent of the Great Chinese Intranet….
