Tibet Urgent Response Network condemns and deplores Google's 2006 announcement that it had bowed to political pressure from China and would provide a web-based search engine for the Chinese market that prohibits access to information about Tibet and other sensitive political issues, such as the protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Yahoo! and Microsoft had already capitulated to China and censored their sites.

Google argues that it is better to provide some service rather than none at all, but it is clear that providing a censored service goes directly against the company's stated philosophy.

Following the news, Alison Reynolds of the Free Tibet Campaign said, "With this move Google's motto 'do no evil' is in smithereens and - through its collusion - Google is endorsing censorship and repression. This also further contradicts those political leaders who attempt to convince us that foreign business can change China for the better: here is just one more example of where China has changed foreign business for the worse."

Please use the contact information below to let Google know how you feel about their decision. You might wish to include some or all of the following points:

• Google's philosophy includes "ten things we have found to be true". Number eight is "The need for information crosses all borders". We wonder, in the light of their collusion in censorship, how they plan to reword this? Perhaps "The need for information crosses all borders, unless it reduces our revenue stream"?

• On their Website Google state that their "mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful". How does their decision to censor information on Tibet fit with the words "universally accessible"?

• Andrew McLaughlin, senior policy counsel at Google has stated, "While removing search results is inconsistent with Google's mission, providing no information - or a heavily degraded user experience that amounts to no information - is more inconsistent with our mission." Tell Google that this is not acceptable - half-truths are simply lies by another name. Google has a moral responsibility not to collude with a regime which regularly uses torture and imprisonment without fair trial to stifle free speech and the practice of religion.