Star One Smart Blog's

Finally, Google's doing something I can approve and agree with. It seems that the Chinese Government, or agents thereof, have been hacking into Google, seeking information on Chinese human rights activists (their g-mail accounts). Google claims there's been no harmful hacks that might result in further incarcerations or deaths, but that conclusion might well be soft-shoeing on their part. They didn't know these accounts were being hacked; they may not realize that further hacks are in progress, or the extent of these as yet undiscovered hacks. How can Google know what damages might result from hacks they haven't even discovered yet?

The result of Google's discovery are some harsh (well, for liberals, harsh) words: "We may pull out of China". Well, newsflash!, Google, you should never have gone there in the first place, given the restrictions placed on you by the Communist Chinese government! How does a bunch of liberals with the motto "Don't be evil" consort with one of the most oppressive (read: Tiananmen Square, Tibetan brutality and torture, and oh! none of those sites are visible on Chinese internets nor 'hittable' on Google dot cn) governments left in the world? Oh. Money. But that...that reeks of capitalism, and good liberals abhor capitalism nowadays, remember?  Wall Street bonuses, bad! Banker's bonuses, bad! Google bonuses? Of what do you speak?

Here's Google's response...

We launched Google.cn in January 2006 in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results. At the time we made clear that "we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services. If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China."

These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

Well. Good on you, Google! This time, I'm in full agreement with your methodology. IF you actually have the hanging parts to do as you threaten.

Oh, and if you would please stop messing with your search engine so as to favor the Left-Liberal sites you love so much? Do that, and I'll consider using Google instead of Yahoo! or Ixquick or (my current favorite) Bing.

Let the Chinese do without Google. And be sure to take Wal Mart with you, when you get ready to leave.