China is blocking Google and the issues could be bigger than they appear at first glance.
Yahoo has already capitulated to pressure from China to censor the database it presents to Chinese citizens. NewsCorp has suppressed books it planned to publish in the US in order to do business in satellites with China. Has China already asked Google to join the team?
This goes beyond French and German objections to Nazi paraphernalia, and Scientology tracking down every reference to its sacred nonsense. This is about participation in tyranny.
Ultimately, every online publisher, web host, backbone operator, isp, and software company will have to come to terms with the moral dimension of its business.
This is not an issue of cultural sensitivity, or loyalty to shareholders. Eventually, Google may have to ask itself the questions that Yahoo has already answered for itself: What value do you place on your humanity? How can you demand the protections of democracy while conspiring to deprive a billion people of their human rights?