The founders of Foursquare, Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai must be very happy now (and rich!). It was announced today that their one and a half year old baby, location-based social network Foursquare, has grown to over 4.5 million users. They will be heading west and will be opening an office in San Francisco, CA.

If you’re not familiar with the software, it is basically a web and mobile application that allows registered users to connect with friends and update their location. Points are awarded for “checking in” at specific places.

China really is an interesting country. It has become the second richest nation in the world, however, when it comes to political maturity, it is one of the poorest. China is well known for their censorship and tight restrictions posed on freedom of expression. The internet and its traffic of information are keenly observed by the Chinese government, and any trespassing of restrictions or misuse of the freedom given, if caught, will be punished.

Recently, a Chinese woman was sentenced to an entire year in a labor camp for her satirical tweet that mentioned Japan but was directed at China. According to reports, the female online activist Cheng Jianping was sentenced to a year of “Re-education through Labor” for “disturbing social order…”