Internet restrictions tighten, Google decides to stay?

In case you didn't think the noose was tight enough, The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has even more regulations coming down the line. While you're now allowed to register for new individual websites (they enacted a freeze in December), you have to submit identity cards and a photo of yourself first, and then do a face-to-face with regulators. Websites without these government stamps of approval will lose their domain name by the end of September 2010. All done in the name of stopping porn. Apparently, this has just resulted in websites being registered overseas instead. In slightly better internet news, Google seems to have started hiring again in China, signaling that it probably won't leave the country after all. But considering search results are still censored here, seems like the company really did wuss out on all their big talk two months ago.