Google and China

I'm updating a link I posted a few days ago. Google has left China, choosing not to bow to the government's attempt to censor the Internet.

This article further examines what that means for Google and China. Google was seen as an innovator that was very influential in the development of the Chinese Web, but its four-year experiment to bring freedom of information to China's 350 million Internet users ended Monday, when it shut down most of its mainland operations and began redirecting users to its Hong Kong-based site.

The remaining mainland operations came under pressure from Chinese officials and Google partners. China Mobile had planned to use Google on its mobile Internet page, but that deal has been scrapped.

The government does not acknowledge to its citizens that it controls information on the Internet, and claims that it offers the same information that the rest of the world can access. Google challenged this idea, and decided it would no longer play along with the cherade.

Any company that deals in information must now realize that the Chinese will place politics above economics, and any attempt to resist censorship may affect a company's very existence in China, as well as strategic partnerships with Chinese companies.