Could Google Be the One to Change China's Censorship Laws?

It seems to be an almost ludicrous assumption, but could online media company Google actually be the one to force China to adjust its penchant for censorship?

Two months ago, I reported that Google was at odds with the Asian country because the Government was censoring search results. A hack into the Gmail system that was traced back to China, however, was the last straw for Google. The company has been dealing with the Chinese Government since, and has threatened to pull its search engine out of the country if the censorship doesn't stop.

The issue is still ongoing, and it remains to be seen what will happen. As noted, it seems unlikely that China will decide censorship is no longer required just to keep Google in the country. But the thought of a country without Google seems almost as strange. Almost.

Of course this is great news for rival services like Microsoft's Bing and Yahoo! But perhaps what we really need is a united front from all these companies to stand up and say "enough is enough" and force China to make changes. After all, without any search engines, how will residents be able to navigate through anything on the World Wide Web? What could happen, however, is that the Government doesn't care, and China becomes disconnected, literally, from the Web. Or worse, the country developers its own, in-country search engine, and censors the information that filters through it even further, limiting the content that people in China can access to a greater degree.

It's a scary thought. For now, the future of Google.cn remains hanging somewhere in Web purgatory.