Liberty or safety? Both-or neither [Spectral Lines]

On 12 January, Google announced that it had been a victim of sophisticated cyberattacks originating in China. Suspecting that the Chinese government had at the very least been turning a blind eye to the problem, the company announced that it would no longer censor its Chinese search results. This tiff between the biggest country and the biggest Internet company affects 1 billion people, tens of thousands of companies, and hundreds of research institutions. It also sets a problem before the rest of the world: Many countries, including the United States, are now grappling with the question of how to balance freedom and security in the Internet age.