Google vs. China: Net censorship, 'information imperialism'

22.01.2010
Information imperialists unite! You have nothing to lose but your Gmail accounts.

Yes, "" -- that's what the People's Republic of China is calling us now, thanks to Google and the U.S. State Department. Hey, it's as good a description as any.

[ Also on InfoWorld: Find out how it all started in "" | Stay up to date on Robert X. Cringely's musings and observations with InfoWorld's . ]

The blowback against Google's announcement that it was hacked by Chinese cyber agents -- and in response would be lifting the restrictions that keep users of its Chinese search engine in the dark -- has been utterly fascinating. (PC World's JR Raphael serves up a .)

I'm trying to remember the last time a corporate decision -- and really, not so much the decision as the public way it was announced -- turned into an international incident. I'm drawing a blank. Anybody out there in Cringeville think of anything?

Yesterday, calling for Internet freedom across the globe. She said the United States would actively encourage the development of technology to circumvent restrictions on Internet access -- something private . Sayeth Madame Secretary: