Don't Be Evil, Except When You Help Oppress Freedom

I nominate the title above for Google's new motto. The company that prides itself on it's "don't be evil" saying has apparently decided that for the greater good, then they'll do evil just this once.

To obtain the Chinese license, Google agreed to omit Web content that the country's government finds objectionable. Google will base its censorship decisons [sic] on guidance provided by Chinese government officials.

Although China has loosened some of its controls in recent years, some topics, such as Taiwan's independence and 1989's Tiananmen Square massacre, remain forbidden subjects.

Google officials characterized the censorship concessions in China as an excruciating decision for a company that adopted "don't be evil" as a motto. But management believes it's a worthwhile sacrifice.

"We firmly believe, with our culture of innovation, Google can make meaningful and positive contributions to the already impressive pace of development in China," said Andrew McLaughlin, Google's senior policy counsel.

Google's decision rankled Reporters Without Borders, a media watchdog group that has sharply criticized Internet companies including Yahoo and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN.com for submitting to China's censorship regime.

"This is a real shame," said Julien Pain, head of Reporters Without Borders' Internet desk. "When a search engine collaborates with the government like this, it makes it much easier for the Chinese government to control what is being said on the Internet."

Exactly. And who are they controlling? Their citizens. Now that's what I call real censorship and oppression. And, in light of recent Google antics, also hypocrisy.

Google is cooperating with China's government at the same time it is battling the U.S. government over a subpoena seeking a breakdown of one week's worth of search requests - a list that would cover millions of terms.

Nice how Google chooses to fight the free country asking for aggregate, unidentifiable data about searches for a court case, not the oppressive one targeting actual people as political dissidents. So now Google joins the ranks of China's thought police alongside Yahoo! and Microsoft.

hmm...come to think of it, if they're mimicking Microsoft, maybe Google's co-founders are angling for Time magazine's Person of the Year?