quote of the week
'There is no turning back for Google ... the die is cast. It is highly unlikely that the government will sit down and talk with Google over a deal because such a compromise would be viewed as face-losing and amounting to a public acknowledgment that its internet control is wrong'
Liu Deyou, internet law professor at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
Background
Liu is referring to an important decision Google made last week. They decided Google.cn would no longer follow the censorship rules made by the central government. This means information on the Tiananmen Square protests and Falun Gong, for example, would become available to mainland internet users.
When Liu says 'the die is cast', he means that Google's fate is decided and it will probably have to shut down on the mainland. Liu believes the central government will not try to come to an agreement with Google.