Google vs. China vs. Google: update roundup

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• Must-read commentary by Open Society fellow Rebecca MacKinnon: "Are China's demands for Internet 'self-discipline' spreading to the West?" and a related post, "Google, China, and the future of freedom on the global Internet." And today, a related piece from MacKinnon, which includes the memorable line, "Never fear, netizens of internet-censoring nations, America is here to save you, galloping in on our trusty steed Google, brandishing our mighty weapon, Twitter!!"

• "I almost got weepy when I read the news about Google, then I put down my crack pipe." The real reason Google wants out of China? It's not human rights, says Oxblood Ruffin.

• Joe Stewart of Atlanta-based computer security research firm SecureWorks has identified what he believes is clear evidence of "the digital fingerprints of Chinese authors" in malware used to attack Google in China. Related: Markoff's articles on the possibility that hackers left backdoors. (NYT)

• Photograph: Flowers at the Google headquarters office in China (China Digital Times).

Ten websites that will help you understand the Chinese Internet. "All of them survived China's censorship, and are developing rapidly," says the post's author, "Donnie" Hao. "Compare[d] to the websites that has been blocked, they are the real mainstream for the over 400 million Chinese netizens." (via Ethan Zuckerman)

• Doc Searls: "Encirclement is more than censorship. It's a war strategy, and China has been at war with the Internet from the start."

(image: "Spy vs. Spy," a fan-riff on the famous Mad Magazine comic, by deviantart user Zarious)