Bush vs. Google

[Drake Tungsten]

Rolling over for China
Not rolling over for the US

[Imran Siddiqui]

Everyone kind of focuses on China, but Google self-censors itself for Germany as well and other countries that have as stringent hate laws.

Google follows the laws of the country they are in... if Bush wins the case that will be upcoming, Google is going to be giving your info to the Justice Dept (they aren't going to be shutting down, silly). Google decided that this request has no merit, while China's and Germany's actions are well versed in both their country's laws and won't be overturned.

[Drake Tungsten]

Actually, it just seems that bucking the US government won't cost Google anything, while bucking the Chinese government will. It's nice that they have a backbone, but that backbone seems disappear pretty quickly when taking a stand would actually hurt the company's bottom line.

[Asher]

Taking a stand against the Chinese government just means they ban you. They don't care.

That gives Chinese startups a headstart on google in one of the fastest growing markets.

[Drake Tungsten]

Taking a stand against the Chinese government just means they ban you. They don't care.

Exactly. The US government, OTOH, can't do anything to Google, which makes thumbing your nose at the US authorities a lot more attractive than doing the same to the Chinese.