Most articles about China and Google focus on how the search company is censoring its content for the benefit of the Chinese government. This article however has nothing to do with this situation. Instead I will be contrasting the needs of government vs. the needs of the individual. And briefly at that.

 

You see China has decided that no new Internet cafes are to be licensed in the country. The entire internet café business is under scrutiny as China is concerned these cafes are giving children access to sexually oriented, gambling sites and violent games.

 

At the opposite end of the spectrum is news about Google Earth being used by recent terror suspects as part of their plan to blow up New York’s JFK Airport.

 

The contrast is that of closed access to the internet versus open access. In the latter case you have the potential for people to use freely available information to break the law, commit acts of terror, steal identities, etc.

 

Mind you, I am not trying to make a political statement here but rather contrast these news items which are at opposite ends of the spectrum.