Google and China

Google and China have been in a bit of a disagreement lately. It seems an attack on Google from within China was the last straw in what was already a precarious relationship. Google is in the business of giving information to anyone who wants it. China is in the business of screening all information before handing it to the public. Minister Wang Chen of China's State Council Information Office reinforced this idea stating "Properly guiding Internet opinion is a major measure for protecting Internet information security." The reason Google is threatening withdrawal, while officially tied to the recent hacker attacks, lies in more than this single incident. Google and Google's services (i.e. YouTube) are consistently shutdown or blocked in China causing a huge loss in revenue and apparent unreliable services from Google. Google seems to think that China consistently violates Google's motto "Don't be Evil" by not allowing freedom of speech. In reality, these recent attacks have created a good excuse for Google to not have to deal with the "Great Firewall of China." For more reading on the subject see this article posted on ArsTechnica.