Google is right in exiting China if such activities are still not contained

I admire Google for the guts to indicate to people that they are willing to leave China as they are evidences that someone is trying to gain access to the information that they have in their servers. This shows that they take privacy seriously and are willing to put their foot down hard to protect the Google brand.

It also seems that one of the reasons (rumours or facts?) why Google was hacked was because of a flaw in Internet Explorer. Steve Ballmer also commented to the news after Google's "shocking" announcements was that Microsoft will be staying put in China. See the irony?

To any company, I personally feel 2 things are quite important and should be upheld regardless:

• Company Branding
• Intellectual Property Rights

Bear in mind that when we give our personal information to anybody, there are usually terms and conditions that govern this exchange of information. Usually there will be clauses that says that they would not use or resell the personal information to third parties. Do you think someone who hacked into a system to gain access to your information will follow the terms and conditions?

What I think is unfortunate was that Microsoft and Yahoo kept silent over these attacks. There were no comments so far from them on these attacks, which Google says its a regular occurrence.

I believe any company should take steps to protect their branding and IP rights, even to the extend of exiting the market because in the long run, you'll be able to retain your unique advantage over your competitors. In the end, it's always the innovative companies that win. They have the capability to keep regenerating new ideas.

Speaking of that, I wonder what Steve Jobs will announce on Jan 27. Hmm...