Web Censorship

[JoeB]

Big Brother is watching

[budman7]

I am glad we don't have that here in the USA.
Going to jail for a subversive comment. That is just wrong.
One more reason for me to be thankful that I was born in the USA.

[ibowtotux]

My cousin just moved to Shanghai. I gues he's got a nice little surprise waiting for him....

[d38dm8nw81k1ng]

so if i have a problem with the chinese will they come looking for me?

bunch of communist ***** (rhymes with "sinks")

[ibowtotux]

so if i have a problem with the chinese will they come looking for me?

bunch of communist ***** (rhymes with "sinks")

You make John McCain proud....

[eatinglemur]

In response to the communism comments, the PRC is merely an authoritarian government. Their economy is heavily market-based, and they dropped any notion of following communism a long time ago. The communist party is more or less a name (just like North Korea calls itself a democratic republic).

It troubles me, and I speak this as leftist myself, that the policies are used to silence political opposition. A single party dominating the government is not a good thing (at least when said government is given so much power and authority). The CPC has operated this way for as long as it's been leading China, taking after the USSR.

Now, if the government were more politically tolerant and altruistic, such internet regulation might actually be used for good. Unfortunately, the risk of abuse is just too high.

[Krendoshazin]

"The Internet has profited many people but it also has brought many problems, such as sex, violence and feudal superstitions and other harmful information that has seriously poisoned people's spirits," the MII Web site said in explaining the rules, which were quietly introduced in March.

interesting how they think that this will improve people's views of the current situations, i'm sure what people are thinking would be the complete opposite of this
"wow, the government is taking away my rights? i must get down on my knees and kiss their feet for doing this, they're really not such bad guys after all".

when you've got a government that wants to take away your rights and then make you think "i've done nothing wrong, i've got nothing to hide", and then the government turns around and says "we've got nothing to hide either, but we're still going to control every piece of media and web page going", it makes you wonder how people can sit back and just allow this kind of thing to happen while they complaint to the teeth about rights violations and such.

since when did opinions come with a price, so much for freedom of speech

[techieMoe]

since when did opinions come with a price, so much for freedom of speech

We are talking about China here, right? Has China ever had freedom of speech?

[eatinglemur]

If I were China, I would offer a web directory service/search engine to users. Registration would be optional, but those who want to be in the directory must meet whatever criteria they choose. This way China would be a) giving citizen the option to "safe" web content, and b) giving site owners an incentive to keep an eye on their content. This way nobody is compelled to do something against their will, and it might actually make the CPC's good will more believable.

[Imscaredofgrass]

The press advocacy group Reporters Without Borders protested the new rules, saying they would force people with dissenting opinions to shift Web sites overseas, where mainland Chinese users might be unable to access them due to government censorship filters.

check out this site:
http://www.zensur.freerk.com/

or

http://www.nautopia.net/nautopia_old...censorship.htm

*Also fun to use this in schools