Google and China parting company
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html
At the time we made clear that “we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services.
If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China.” These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered—combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web—have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China.
We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all.
We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.
The best news from the internet behemoth lately is not another gee-whiz innovation but a pull-back on the grounds of interference in China.
Bravo for this stand, Google
At the time we made clear that “we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services.
If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China.” These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered—combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web—have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China.
We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all.
We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

