A Washington Post article states that Google is considering discontinuing its services in China. If Google actually follows through with this, it would be the first large company to stand up to China and resist some of its unreasonable demands.
The motivation for this potential move was an apparent attack by someone in China on Google's e-mail servers. The attackers seemed to target the accounts of human rights activists. While the attack was apparently unsuccessful, it was cause for concern.
This is in contrast with the way Yahoo! acted when China asked them for information about activists. At least twice, Yahoo! turned in the activists, who are now serving long sentences in prison. In April of 2005, a dissident was sentenced to ten years in prison. He was convicted on the basis of information that Yahoo! provided the government. In 2003, Yahoo! provided information to help convict another dissident who received an eight year sentence. Yahoo! explained these unconscionable acts as "misunderstandings".
I think I understand. With its billion people, China is a huge economy just ripe for harvesting. Yahoo! and many other corporations are eager to get in there and make as much money as they can. If they have to throw the occasional activist to the wolves, that's a small price to pay for all the money they'll be making.
I'm not sure if Google is bluffing, or whether it will follow through with its decision to pull out of China. If they do, I applaud their courage to face down the Chinese government and refuse to participate in repression. Google stands to lose a lot of money if they walk out of China. Well done, if they do it.
As for Yahoo!, well, shame on them.
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