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Chinese search giant Baidu fired four workers over taking cash to censor and delete content on Monday. Three of the workers were arrested in conjunction with the censorship.

The workers would take anywhere from $150 to $470 dollars to delete negative content about a subject from blogs to news portals, according to the Global Times. The censorship could have gone as far as companies paying more than $20,000 a year for workers to monitor and delete negative press.

I understand some of the criticism against Google, like the company has too much control over internet content, but with the company fighting against censorship across the web this story makes Google look like its fighting the correct fight.

China is known for internet censorship, and punishing people who post negative news about the government, so it seems a little harsh to arrest the employees. Hopefully its a sign that the country is moving away from the hard line policies, but its more likely the police got involved because of the large amounts of money.

The impact on Baidu should be minimal. The stock price hasnt crashed, there are no reports of an investigation, and the normal day to day use of the website has remained intact. Still, as control of content becomes more important across the web, its important we keep an eye out as consumers.

YouTube app removal should actually improve YouTube for iPhone

Speaking of search engines, Apple announced Googles YouTube app, a long time iPhone staple, would be removed from the built in app selection starting with iOS 6.

Striking news at first, but this move should actually improve Youtube on the iPhone. It takes the control of the app away from Apple and puts it into Googles (YouTubes owners) hands.

All of the preloaded apps on the iPhone are developed by Apple, and since YouTube joined the iPhone in 2007, all Google has done is code the video in an iPhone friendly format.

With the emergence of the two companies as rivals, Apple hasnt really taken care of updating or improving the application since it showed up. Now, Google will be able to offer it in the App Store, and control all updates and the interface. They have a much bigger interest in making the app better.

Continued here:
Chinese search giant Baidu fires 3 over paid censorship