Google vs. China.

We salute Google's principled stance against the People's Republic of China. The world largest search engine, Google had long struggled with China's communist government over issues of censorship and the free flow of information, as well as possible attempts on the government's part to breach security on the Gmail accounts of some suspected dissidents. Finally having enough of the government's heavy handed policies, Google, on March 22, 2010, began diverting its Google China searches to Google Hong Kong. By international treaty, Hong Kong enjoys a much higher degree of freedom - including on the Internet - than does Mainland China.

The response of the Chinese government was almost immediate. By March 30, all Mainland Chinese searches on Google had been banned.

There have those who have commented that Google has overestimated its importance. And, while that is certainly possible in regards to the individual company, Google has not overestimated the importance of the Internet. For all its problems and potentially dangerous possibilities, the Internet is proving to be a vehicle for free expression and a conduit for information. The power of all governments - including that of China - is going to be diminished somewhat by the Internet, but individual freedom and rights will ultimately be strengthened.