Good article that I agree with - Google Takes a Stand by Nicholas Kristof - NY Times.

Currently there are an estimated 130,000 people in China working for the government censoring the Internet. From chatrooms to search to even instant messaging to a Golden Shield between China and the rest of the world. It's very high tech.

My opinion is China has more to lose from Google leaving, than Google does. It would be a huge hit to China's reputation and it would also remove competition (that are heavily favored by the government) from it's home based competitors to Google. From Google's prospective it helps their reputation in the main markets where they get the majority of their income. Google Chinese revenue is $310 million, which is 2% of their overall revenue.

Another factor that has not been mentioned is many users in China go around the great firewall to use Google's products. Someplace I read that 20% of Internet users in China have a Google E-Mail account, yet Google does not offer this within China. Side note, Google now encrypts all Gmail Accounts automatically, used to be not automatic.

Labels: china's future