Can anyone reference a more in depth article about how / why this
search engine justified abiding by government censorship rules in
China?

I am looking for more than just sound bites and assertions that it was
the right thing to do, or the only thing to do.   I am looking for an
in depth discussion by corporate figures or knowledgeable journalists.


***

Thanks for accepting my suggestion as your official answer! I learned
about the article to which I linked in my comment from a brief quote
that I ran across in "Wired" magazine (the paper version, not the
online version).

TechNewsWorld: Motto for Freedom Activists: 'Don't Be Unreasonable'
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/ceTXqhR4OjJGfx/Motto-for-Freedom-Activists-Dont-Be-Unreasonable.xhtml

Here is an older "Wired" article on a similar subject. This dates back
to January 2003:

Wired: Google vs. Evil
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.01/google_pr.html

When looking for serious articles on news-related subjects, I often
use "Google Scholar" or "Google News" rather than the main Google
search page. This helps to filter out the fluff. Here are two searches
that may lead you to more of the kinds of articles that you seek:

Google Scholar: google china censorship
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=google+china+censorship&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en

Google News: google china censorship
http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn&q=google%20china%20censorship

Best regards,
pinkfreud

---

Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 11 May 2006 09:58 PDT

Also from "Wired," here's a brief statement from Al Gore.

"On China's decision to censor Google: 
In the process of giving Chinese users a clear indication of what's
being denied them and what's not, Google is generating awareness of
what the Chinese government is doing. That has led to a more
sophisticated request in China to end this kind of censorship."

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.05/citizen.html

thanks Pink; as ever, more than I bargained for . . .

Be smart. 

Send your question to China and G in some letters.  

The free lancers that answer questions in this forum are not going to
be able to mind read their bosses bosses or the Chinese surfers.

Here's an interesting article:

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/ceTXqhR4OjJGfx/Motto-for-Freedom-Activists-Dont-Be-Unreasonable.xhtml

thank you Pink, that is a help . . .

still it surprises me that G has not issued an official statement or
explanation that can be accessed; it's not like them.

 . . . and why fer heaven's sake don't you post this as an answer?

please?

***

timespacette,

Thankya for the kind words, the five stars, and the nice tip!

~Pink