Google Censorship in China

(Updated)
This issue has been going around for a while now, but we've been too busy at work so I wasn't able to blog about it.

Google is now censoring Google.cn, at the pressure of the Chinese Government, and Google is taking a beating from bloggers, something that Google was expecting to happen.

This sucks, and I wish Google didn't have to do it. Although my knowledge of the entire issue is not entirely comprehensive, I believe in the idea of a democratic web of information. Damn the Chinese Government. and shame on Google, Microsoft and Yahoo for bowing down

UPDATE:
I just read the google blog and Google's statement on the China issue. Posts from a company's official blog can be taken as a pure PR BS or a true statement of their company's ideals and beliefs, depending on how you read it. That being said, here's my take on it....

The admission on the company's part that that their action was a compromise of what they believe in

Filtering our search results clearly compromises our mission...

is something that I admire. This is a sign that Google clearly understands the gravity of the decision they made and that they are being transparent about it.

...Whether our critics agree with our decision or not, due to the severe quality problems faced by users trying to access Google.com from within China, this is precisely the choice we believe we faced. ...

The blog post also stated that the Gmail and Blogger services will not be offered to the the Chinese version of Google:

No, we're not going to offer some Google products, such as Gmail or Blogger, on Google.cn until we're comfortable that we can do so in a manner that respects our users' interests in the privacy of their personal communications. And yes, Chinese regulations will require us to remove some sensitive information from our search results. When we do so, we'll disclose this to users, just as we already do in those rare instances where we alter results in order to comply with local laws in France, Germany and the U.S.

Read the rest of the blog post.

Disclaimer: This is the official google blog that I am pointing to. Depending on how well you are versed with the issue, reading it might not give you the most objective perspective on the matter. Read and research more on your own...