I don't have a choice.  I can use google or yahoo and that's pretty much it in the way of decent search engines.  Hooray for that, the best wins out, it's the capitalist ethos and the customer gets the best value for their money (or time).

So sure google and other companies have a financial responsibility and google seems to realise that they have a moral responsibility, but when does financial responsibility eclipse moral responsibility?

Let’s look at China.  The last communist regime on Earth (that works anyway) and one of the most repressive governments in existence today.  Yet it is undergoing a technological boom, a revolution you might say.  With a market of at least 200,000,000 who could resist right?  You'd be a fool not to try to get into some of that.

So google and yahoo and Microsoft and others get in on the ground floor, but the Chinese government is one that likes to control and they say something like "If you want access to our enormous markets you have to help us"  And google et al  says "Yes sir! How can we help?"  and China says "You provide us with the tools to keep our people in line, to censor information to stop dissidents from having a say, to find and execute those dissidents"  And google et al say "Yes sir!" with a barely measurable pause.  Now if you search for Tiananmen Square from a Chinese server you get tourist pictures and nothing else.

And who provided China with the technology and technological expertise to do that?  That's right good old google.

We have a company whose motto is "Don't be evil" doing something very, very evil.  And they justify it with "Well if we didn't do it someone else would" and "We don't ask what the information is for we just provide it" and "We have a responsibility to our shareholders to expand our markets" and no doubt many other excuses.  And people die.

How much do you want google?  I expect Microsoft to do this, I'm disappointed but not surprised that Yahoo would do this but google?  Google!!?  How much money do you need?  You have the western world sewn up, you are at the forefront of IT, you create the next big thing.  More importantly you had the moral high ground.

You could've said no.  Just one word that's all.  Just no and let someone else have blood on their hands.  If all of you had said no then China would be forced to stop treating its people like cattle.

I'm disillusioned by all this and that's a terrible thing.  I won't stop using google it's a great tool but I would just once in my lifetime like to see a non-hypocritical company somewhere in the world.  Just once.