The Great Search Engine Collides With the Great Firewall

The Great Search Engine Collides With the Great Firewall

Last month's clash between Google and China was definitely a 21st century tiff, as the Great Search Engine of America's Silicon Valley collided with China's Great Firewall, the still-communist software filter that surrounds the Middle Kingdom's digital terrain.

The Google versus China battle repeated elements of the classic struggle between an "open society" and a "closed society." Google accused the Chinese government of hacking the email accounts of human rights activists and told China that it was "no longer willing to continue censoring" Internet search results for terms like "Tiananmen Square." Yes, the Beijing government gets very touchy when its...