It’s an age-old business dilemma caught up in the new age of globalization: When governments demand something that compromises the interests of customers, what’s a company to do?
That’s the question now before American telecommunications and Internet companies.
This week, for example, Internet giant Google is launching a new search service in China that, because of government sensitivities there, will limit what users there can access. They already couldn’t see links to objectionable sites. Now, they won’t be able to use Google for e-mail messaging or writing blogs.