Google infamously agreed to censor search results when it set up a branch in China a few years ago, and the implications of that decision it seems, have finally come home to roost. And Google have seen their mistake for what it was.
According to the Guardian news story, there was a cyber attack aimed at acquiring unauthorised access to Gmail accounts held by Chinese human rights campaigners.
All I can say is: what did they expect? Governments who want to censor and control the internet will want to control all of it. If you concede the overall principles of the internet, of the free exchange of ideas, then you can hardly be surprised when instead of the carefully agreed inch, the other side takes a mile.
I am convinced the only reason that such things are not on the cards in the UK is because the European Convention on Human Rights prevents it for the most part - but even there, the British government has found one or two work-arounds to do what they can to gain access (for example, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act).
According to the article, Google claimed that "the benefits of increased access to information for people in China 'outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results'." Censorship does not promote freedom. If Google are only just waking up to that fact, then as I say in my header, "better late than never".
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This blog is intended to be a place where I can develop my thoughts freely and get free and honest responses. Essentially, it is my safe space, and for that reason I have elected to maintain this blog as a moderated space. However, I am opposed in general to censorship and believe that usually the best way to kill a bad idea is with a better one, so very few comments will be rejected. Comments designed to cause offence for the sake of it (e.g. abusive or inflammatory remarks with no other content), or else those that I feel cross a boundary of human decency, are most likely to be rejected.