Google has started offering its search services to Chinese Internet users on a server in China, at the address Google.cn. As part of the server move, Google was forced to agree to filter search results.

When using the Chinese Google to search for "sensitive words" like Falungong and Tiananmen, the following message is displayed at the bottom of the search result page: 据当地法律法规和政策，部分搜索结果未予显示. It means "To comply with local laws, regulations and policies, some search results are not displayed".

That message is a clear indication to anyone with curiosity that there are more juicy offerings about that subject in the big bad world of the international Internet. Google's American-hosted servers are still accessible from China at Google.com, so an uncensored search is only slightly more hassle than a local one.

Google's 'caving in' to Chinese censorship has caused outbursts of self-righteous anger that Google is cooperating with the government in censoring the Internet.

The self-righteous anger is absurd. People who say Google should pull out of China rather than offer a censored service do not use the Internet in China.

And compared to the stony silence that other Internet companies use to explain their China content policies, Google's message is a stand against censorship in a small way: the message is a little flashing light that will alert Chinese Internet users to what Nanny does not want them to read.