Holding Google's Severed Head up to China

Charlie Smith argues that Google should take immediate steps to prevent China from censoring the Web in "Google could end China's web censorship in 10 days."

Summary:

Smith's plan is divided into two simple steps:

1. Switch the Chinese version of the search engine to an encrypted version to prevent China from blocking certain search terms, and
2. create a mirrored version of every blocked site.

"That's it," Smith says, "Two simple steps and Google could end online censorship by the end of this month in China. Quite possibly they could end online censorship just about everywhere in the world before the new year. Forget about not doing evil – this would be something that we could all celebrate."

Though some might think this would incur China's wrath and lead to Google itself being blocked, Smith argues that Google is too big to be blocked. This point, of course, is debatable, but it would be hard to argue with the notion that Google's online dominance is strong enough to at least give Beijing second thoughts about pulling its plug.

Interesting Fact:

"Every time you click on a Google search result that takes you to a blocked website, Google can detect that the site is blocked."

Commentary:

I wonder whether or not Google's window to take a stand like this against China might be closing. With other search engines and online apps on the rise, how much longer can a single player wield the kind of power needed to take on the Red Giant? It's really a Clash of the Titans scenario, but in this case Medusa's head is shrinking while the Kraken continues to grow.