That's OK - they're still reporting the news accurately and I'm not knocking that. But I would like to add that there is a rather worrying bigger implication in this announcement than simply one related to smartphone business in a few specific markets.

The problem with Yandex is that they have a somewhat dubious record of 'interfering' with results in a way that consistently does favours to the Kremlin. Very often these discrepancies will take the form of some high-profile opposition rally, event, or campaign - which is well covered online in blogs, images etc and thus ranks highly on Google.ru results - but is nowhere to be seen on Yandex. The excuse has usually been that the omission is down to technical difficulties but, the more often this happens; the less convincing the excuse seems (more examples here and here).

The other problem is that Yandex is otherwise pretty good at Russian language searching and has over 60% market share in Russia, as well as a strong presence in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Turkey totalling 56 million users worldwide. The latest announcements suggest that these numbers will only increase if they manage to establish a similar dominance in the smartphone market (although the prospects for Windows phone generally don't look amazing so that might hold things back a bit).

The bottom line though is that Putin's anti-democratic regime initially underestimated the power of the internet to undermine autocratic and repressive rulers. Instead they focused much more on censoring visual media - especially television. This was pretty effective as long as Russia's internet connectivity rates were low - which is becoming less and less the case these days, a process accelerated by the advent of smartphones.

This has meant that now events like the 31st-of-the-month opposition rallies get a huge web presence and thus increase the visibility of the campaign, while Youtube music videos of pro-democracy songs are now regularly attracting over a million viewers very quickly (whereas as recently as 2008 or 2009 such figures would have been unimaginable). Events in the Arab world have probably furthered the sense that the internet now represents a much more real threat to repressive and autocratic regimes than before.

Now, there is one other search engine that comes to mind here: China's Baidu, which effectively censors the internet for the benefit of the ruling regime, silencing any attempt at dissent, opposition, or even democratic activity. Google eventually backed out of that territory on ethical grounds (not wanting to be complicit in this censorship - and also probably concluding that they could afford to do so without it being that financially disastrous), but then Bing came in to try and lap up some of the slack by partnering up with Baidu to deliver English language results. And you know who owns Bing? That's right - Microsoft, the same company behind Windows obviously, and also Windows Phone.

Why am I bringing this up? Because we know from Microsoft's track record with Bing and Baidu that they will happily comply with even the most repressive regime to censor the internet if it means they can get a little slice of market share. That means that they are a perfect match for Yandex, who also seem to err away from the principle of a completely free internet, and thus that this potential expansion in market share (via the smartphone deal announced above) could also be evidence of Russia's internet sliding slowly towards something which resembles the situation in China. That is not simply business news and nor is it something which should pass by unnoticed...

(p.s. If all this sounds a little hyperbolic to you, don't forget that in some other parts of the world even using the Facebook 'Like' button can be a political act that might land you in jail...)

While it's not exactly the great firewall yet, it is certainly a step in that direction as Berlusconi's notoriously controversial (corrupt) government is attempting to pass a bill that would render blog posts on a par with news media regarding the responsibility to give right to reply - and potential fines of up to 12,000 euro for those who fail to comply.

Now, many people might consider this a welcome arrival of the blogosphere into the serious realm of responsibility, authority, and respectability enjoyed by mainstream (newspaper and television) news media. They might argue that such a thing might be a good idea in other countries also and would merely reflect the reality of the modern media environment in which the lines between what the law considers news media and what is considered a blog are increasingly blurred.

Well, it might be a good idea to introduce this law in other countries (maybe - though my instinct is that it wouldn't be) but what is for sure is that Italy is one of the last places in world where such a law would be of benefit to anyone other than those with serious secrets they wish to keep hidden but which ordinary people have an interest in and a desire to discuss (i.e. many of the top figures currently in power and the details of their various corruptions).

Hence, the problem with putting blogging on a par with mainstream media in Italy is precisely that Berlusconi already exerts a sickening stranglehold over mainstream television (and to a lesser extent also print). Thus the simple premise of this new legislation is to bully (with the threat of grossly intimidating fines) those who might wish to write something online that somebody in a position of power might not like, enjoy, or agree with.

So, as a blogger, unless you agree to allow said persons their right to reply (which in essence will merely be used as a window to stall, or otherwise dilute the blog post) you will face the 12k euro fine. While the right too reply is a fundamental principle of a democratically functioning news media environment (and one I would usually consider desirable), the problem here is exactly to do with the specificity of Berlusconi's attempt to exploit this principle for avoiding personal political losses (the whole issue has emerged around specific wiretap recordings detailing Berlusconi's criminal dealings, which he seeks to suppress).

Anyway all pretty sad and infuriating, but no more so than any other episode of Silvio Berlusconi's political (and otherwise) life. I write that sentence in the full knowledge that an Italian blogger probably won't have the luxury of being able to do so in a few more months (unless he/she has a spare 12,000 euro knocking around or basically agrees to have Berlusconi's self propaganda also accompanying the piece).

What various web companies must be thinking of this one can only imagine, but the implications could be massive; imagine for example if Tweets were subjected to the same law, or wall posts and status updates? The law is therefore additionally idiotic from the perspective of economics and innovation, on top of its being a blatant attempt to reduce the potential for any form of dissent to arise on the blogosphere and to extend Berlusconi's grip on media chanels into the area of new media.

So, in the interests of following the extensive fallout from these developments (which extends into not just business and technology spheres but also into those of politics and international relations) here's a quick round-up of some of the most useful and insightful articles and blogs out there covering this extensive subject.

A good place to start is Isaac Mao's piece on the Guardian tech page, which provides an allegorical overview of the entire episode - very few concrete details but a good and quick way to get an idea of what's happened with an entertaining metaphor. You may then wish to read a statement on Google's blog for a more detailed account of changes to their operation and what the official reasoning behind this is. Finally this quick video on Youtube from tech journalist Tania Branigan offers a brief history of Google in China right up to the recent spat and withdrawal.

One key question for the future of business in China in general has been over the nature of the response of the US government in the episode, and indeed Google co-founder Sergey Brin has called upon the Obama administration to push for a crackdown on web censorship, not only in China but globally. The US gov't have however wisely decided to attempt to calm tensions and ease the threat of escalation by playing down the degree to which this impacts upon US-China relations. Even if they had wanted to support Google, it would be largely impossible without the support of other tech giants such as Microsoft, Yahoo, and Myspace - all of whom have announced no plans to alter the nature of their Chinese operations.

While those in China once more suffer from a lack of access to the full range of reporting and comment that is emerging on the issue, elsewhere we are fortunately able to access a wide variety of opinions and analysis of which some of the most interesting examples can be found below.

1. Michael Arrington over on Techcrunch highlights some of the hypocrisy that underlies much of the outrage at Chinese censorship policies - for example, while bloggers' rants can be found two-a-penny condemning the 'great firewall', we nonetheless continue to consume plenty of Chinese-made products every day across the Western world.

2. A detailed post over at Search Engine Land offers quite a thorough analysis of Google's motives in making decisions on its China policy, and raises a number of key problems which undermine the simple good vs. evil narrative.

3. Finally, Timothy Garton Ash offers a broader contextualisation of how the entire episode currently relates to global politics and international relations, as well as an essential consideration of what the concept of the 'netizen' in the 21st century means following the Google/China events.

That's plenty for now I should think - there is of course much, much more out there (feel free to post links below if you've come across something particularly interesting) and indeed it seems certain that plenty more will follow in coming weeks and months. As always, we'll be keeping you in the loop with all major developments...

Dejan Levi