  Not only do some practices by search engine companies pose a threat for democracy and democratic ideals, other practices (in which search engine companies are arguably complicit) reinforce censorship schemes currently used by non-democratic nations. For example, it is well know that China has succeeded in blocking access to political sites that it regards as threatening. Consider that it blocks ordinary Chinese users from access to sites such as “Tiananmen Square,” “Free Tibet,” and “Dalai Lama.” Critics note that Google agreed to comply with China’s censorship laws when the search engine company entered the Chinese market in 2006. Spinello (2012) believes that this agreement violated Google’s “don’t be evil” principle—a core principle of the search engine company—because Google “facilitated and supported” China’s censorship regime. But some of Google’s defenders have argued that the search engine company’s entry into China made it possible for China’s residents to have greater access to information, overall (i.e., beyond what would otherwise be accessible through Baidu (www.Baidu.com), a Chinese-owned search engine service founded in 2000). Other defenders of Google point out that the search engine giant did not act alone because major U.S. companies, such as Yahoo and MSN, also complied with China’s censorship laws. And Hinman notes that the Chinese government also received cooperation from other American companies, such as Cisco Systems, in establishing the infrastructure or backbone components of its Internet firewall.