Many people in Western culture are starting to take search engines for granted. I'm not talking about just having a computer and having access to the Internet. I'm speaking of what you can and cannot find in some of the top engines themselves.
The Tech Zone recently published a piece about the influence the Chinese government is having on certain websites, particularly Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft portals. According to the article, Google has removed certain news lists critical of Chinese policy, and Microsoft has blocked users from saying "freedom," "democracy" and other items the Chinese deem as dangerous.
It's frightening to me that as the Internet continues to grow, with all the information that could be easily accessible, that groups of people could be suppressed from it due to their government's policy. It seems to the article's writer that Western businesses have much more leverage than they are showing, possibly because they want to appease a growing economic arena in China. But by shrugging their shoulders when the government doesn't like people finding information, will that help anyone in the long run?
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