Freedom of speech = big bucks

In 2008, Microsoft, Yahoo and Google complied with China's restrictive laws in the interest of salvaging their business relationships with China, a massive source of income.

The NY Times describes how Yahoo gave over information that led to the imprisonment of several Chinese activists, Google introduced a censored search engine, and Microsoft shut down a blog written by a Chinese journalist working for the NY Times.

These companies were challenged and eventually joined the Global Network Initiative, intended to protect online free speech and privacy in restrictive countries.

But lets take it back a step to before they joined.

Reflecting on my post about PepsiCo and their PR efforts, it is important to remember that no matter how genuine a corporation may seem, every business decision is an economical one.

That policy is reflective of Twitter and Facebook's efforts in Egypt - as genuinely as they seemed to be promoting freedom of speech for everyone, it is interesting to study process of events and it would be even more interesting to conduct an audit of their revenue during the revolution.