To answer your question without expressing an opinion myself: the people protesting Google's decision would probably cite the company's longstanding "Don't Be E

To answer your question without expressing an opinion myself: the people protesting Google's decision would probably cite the company's longstanding "Don't Be Evil" marketing, and the good publicity the company has sought in the past for refusing to do exactly what they are now doing. Also, as far as timing, Google is being focused on now because they've just announced a major new product. Lots of other companies have been criticized in the past for complicity with China's brutal dictatorship.