On kuro5hin, nostalgiphile puts it where it goes: "If Google cooperates (as Yahoo recently has) with the Chinese government to spy on its citizens, then why can't they cooperate with the US government's efforts to snoop on its citizens?" I, for one, think that the illustrious Chairman would approve of Google's guerilla tactics in China. What I'm getting at (and I'm sure Google would agree Google does agree) is that a few billion Chinese with Google is better than a few billion Chinese without it. What this move allows Google to do is to get into the hands of the Chinese everything that the Chinese censors miss (which is a hell of a lot), and to start building infrastructure that China will eventually find itself beholden to, i.e. unable to do without. The panarchical nature of Google and China's overlapping spheres of authority will create a tension that will demand resolution. The net result is a power-shift, to stretch Toffler's word. In the long run, when Google starts asking China to loosen up, China will have no choice but to give in. The reason Google can do so in the U.S. is that it has more power here. Getting to that status in China may take time, but.... Have a little faith, people. ;-)