Wikipedia may be banned in China, but their content is finding its way into the desktops of Chinese internet users.

Many users of Baidu’s answer to Wikipedia, BaiduBaike, have swiped Wikipedia content verbatim and placed it on BaiduBaike. So not only is Wikipedia banned, but the site that is making all of the hay from their absence is stealing Wikipedia’s content.

It’s hardly a surprise. Baidu’s popularity is somewhat based on the fact that they allow users to search for copyrighted content.

Also, what is Wikipedia to do? Technically, it’s not their content anyway– it is user generated. Also, Wikimedia, having recently made the move to San Francisco, wants to foster a better relationship with Asia.

The US Congress has shown its firmness in the idea that US companies should not give in to China’s censorship. Wikipedia stood up to China and did not delete content about such things as Tienamen Square and China went ahead and banned them.

It’s a tough call to make: Yahoo is feeling the effects of their decision to cooperate with Chinese censors, which led to the arrest of several journalists. Is the bad press back home in the US worth giving in to Chinese authorities to get a piece of its exploding market share?

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