Some libertarians and civil liberties advocates won't be too impressed at Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's perspective on China's filtering of Western news services:
"The Chinese government has the right to do it. It's a sovereign country."
What you need to recognize, however, is that Mr Ellison is not in the business of protecting civil rights. He's in the business of making money. It's what businesses do. Their directors have a fiduciary duty to maximise the return to shareholders. Their bottom line, therefore, is a focus on the bottom line, so to speak.
Besides, he's right, the Chinese government do have a sovereign, political, legal and (some would argue) moral right to filter Internet content in their own jurisdiction. Whether you agree with that filtering and the extent of it are other, more difficult questions.
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