Censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the government or media organizations as determined by a censor. (Wikipedia: Censorship)

Google and China. Google’s motto is “Don’t be evil.” While often times in life a fine line exists—I can’t help but view internet censorship on the dark side. I hope that Google continues to act proactively against internet censorship in China, and the world. Unbiased information is fundamental to social and intellectual progress. People can handle the truth. Blocking sites means blocking progress. Attempting to “control” the Internet defies logic. Privacy and security are huge issues.

Image: flickr/the-g-uk

Let’s not be clueless. In my opinion censoring information—whether by government, institution, workplace—is an ultimate form of disrespect. I take it personally. If the question is “why” then is the answer “fear?” Are censors afraid of people’s reaction to the truth? Here’s the bright side—think about traditional news mediums like television, radio, or newspaper, and realize that the Internet is by far the most democratic and unbiased information medium in history. That’s the whole point—internet media needs to echo reality. We’re moving in the right direction—bloggers and citizen journalists are multiplying. More people worldwide are gaining internet access. Northern Europe and North America currently have the highest per capita internet usage. Global access is accelerating.

The first place I turn when looking up artists has been Google or YouTube. When I’m not clicking on the YouTube video links in Google, I’m clicking on the Wikipedia entries. Having streamable tracks in the search results gives us an even faster way to hear the music, and the video results still show in Google as well. I’m surprised that they didn’t include a YouTube link next to the Rhapsody, Pandora, Imeem, Lala links in the new music results. But maybe there is a legal issue there? Nah, couldn’t be.

I think that the benefits brought by Google Music Search are only beginning and many more features are on the horizon. What features do you think would be most useful and entertaining? What new data will be gathered by this and how could it be used for the greater good? Recent coverage on Mashable predicted that Google Music Search will decrease iTunes’ market share, help keep MySpace in the game, and make Google a source of music trend information. Google continues to grow as a major force on the web and its stock price has been rocking a strong upward trend through 2009. What implications does Google’s increasing dominance have for music in the years to come?