Who Was China Really Aiming At?

For the past few months, Google and similar companies have been planning to stand up to Chinese censorship:

A couple of months ago I alluded to a set of closed-door discussions that have been going on over the past year. Today this press release issued by Business for Social Responsibility has finally brought those quiet conversations out of the closet.

Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and Vodaphone are now committed publicly to a process "which aims to produce a set of principles guiding company behavior when faced with laws, regulations and policies that interfere with the achievement of human rights." As BSR's CEO Aron Cramer put it: "This important dialogue reflects a shared commitment to maximize the information available via the internet on the basis of global principles protecting free expression and privacy."

I don't think it's a coincidence that China has now demonstrated anti-satellite weaponry. Maybe they thought that Google, as a heavy user of satellite data, would back down.