I’m collecting photoshopped/altered Google logos by bloggers and others in response to the search engine company’s decision to kowtow to China. Let a thousand protest icons bloom!

Here was mine:

Murdoc:

Pam at Atlas Shrugs, who’s calling on you to divest from Google:

Point Five:

Dean Esmay:

Got more? Send ‘em in.

Meantime, Pajamas Media is tracking the story. And Thomas Lipscomb has an important piece up at E&P on “The Real Cost of Google’s Sellout to China:”

Last week Google announced its intention to resist a Department of Justice court action underway. DOJ wanted Google to allow a surveillance test of millions of its users’ search queries as part of its effort to enforce online pornography legislation passed by Congress to protect children. Yahoo, AOL, and MSN had already agreed to cooperate. But now, in an extraordinary development, Google has announced its decision to join the largest internet censorship effort in the world, being run by Communist China.

Google will actively assist the Chinese government in barring access to thousands of web sites and search terms, in fact anything on the world wide web the Chinese feel might destablize its authoritarian government. It will also eliminate the blogging and email services it offers elsewhere in the world. According to the Associated Press: “Google officials characterized the censorship concessions in China as an excruciating decision for a company that adopted ‘don’t be evil’ as a motto.”

Does Google’s concept of “evil” exclude surpressing the free access it currently offers the 100 million Chinese estimated to be on the internet? What’s going on here?

It is simple enough. Google is talking out of both sides of its mouth. Google is perfectly willing to posture as a brave defender of the privacy of its users in the U.S. marketplace it already dominates while caving to the immense commercial opportunity awaiting it in China. Booming China is already the second largest internet market in the world and soon will pass the largest — the United States.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) is calling for hearings.

***

Previous:

Google bows to China