China vs. the Internet

[Commentary] Google and GoDaddy are pushing back against Chinese censorship. These are difficult decisions for Web companies that come not only at a high financial cost but at a high price for Chinese Internet users.

No U.S. company censors to the degree the Chinese government does, so to leave China is to abandon Chinese consumers. And yet Google had no choice following what appeared to be government efforts to hack into its site and the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. We don't know what kind of censorship Microsoft might have been subjected to, or whether a move out of China is warranted in its case, but we do think the company needs to say more about its China policy than it has to date. This no longer can be seen as a battle of the Titans -- Google versus the Chinese Communist Party. Google, Go Daddy and Network Solutions need the backing of other Web companies so this issue cannot be portrayed by China as the U.S. government trying to tell it what to do. Admittedly, the chances of altering China's behavior are slim. The government is determined to censor the Internet in its efforts to stifle dissent. Some critics argue that China may have driven Google out because it posed a competitive threat to state-owned businesses. But digital goods and information are the growth engines of the global economy. The free and rapid flow of information is speeding innovation and generating new forms of commerce. China is taking a risk in driving out the world's leading Internet companies. Isolation may help the Communist Party hang on to power, but it endangers the economic expansion that makes China a top global competitor.