To understand the Google in China news, you need to read Rebecca MacKinnon, who has been covering this beat before anyone else knew it existed. Read the whole post for background and perspective, but here’s a taste:

I don’t like the fact that Google is censoring in China at all. Google spokespeople liken what they do in China to the filtering they do in France and Germany – censoring porn and Nazi sites in compliance with their laws. I do not believe you can compare compliance to laws in democratic societies to what they’re doing in China. In France and Germany, there is some connection between the laws and the user’s consent. People in those countries have the ability to vote out of office the politicians who make unpopular laws. Chinese users have no way of punishing their government for its censorship policies by voting the current group of leaders out of office.