Review on "Google bows to China's censorship demands" (The Sydney Morning Herald, 7/21/10)

What's the use of Google in China if users can't search and find everything they ought to be able to see?  Well, I'm not sure of what other search engines are available in China, and if they are as good as Google, so that's somewhere to start. 

When Google was banned in China for directing them to a mainland site in Hong Kong that was unfiltered, they only came back four months later, agreeing to all of China's demands. Google had promised to abide by the Chinese government, as well as "avoid linking to material deemed a threat to national security or social stability."

As I suspected, Google doesn't make nearly as much money in China as it does in other countries. The Chinese market accounts for "an estimated $US250 million to $US600 million of Google's projected $US28 billion in revenue this year." However, it is feasible that without "the China platform," Google would not be able "to profit from the expected future growth of the market." 

Review on Jane Macartney's "Dissident Chinese professor to sue Yahoo! and Google for erasing his name" (London Times, 2/6/08)

It's not really a surprise that certain things won't appears in search results on the Internet in China. However, it is surprising that it was the United States that blocked Guo Quan's name from Yahoo! and Google in China.

However, Google and Yahoo! aren't just doing this for no reason. Google stated that they were in compliance with Chinese law. And since Google or Yahoo! don't have a legal identity in China, Quan went to sue the "parent company" in the United States. Makes sense.

Either way, Quan is going against the Chinese government and does not seem to stand a chance in the near future, and I'm not sure what happened since this article.

Quan states one thing as his mission: “Through this I hope that the world will become more concerned to resolve human rights issues in China. The freedom of the internet should be realised all over the world.”

While the freedom of the Internet worldwide may never happen, human rights issues in China is a good place for Quan to start.