China Shuts Down 17,000 Internet Bars

Astin writes: "According to this article, Chinese authorities have shut down more than 17,000 Internet bars for failing to block Web sites considered subversive or pornographic. Out of the 94,000 Internet bars in China, 17,488 have been shut down and another 28,000 were ordered to install monitoring software soon. Of the 27 million Internet users in China, about 4.5 million rely on these bars. Foreign news organizations fall under the category of 'subversive'."

Comments

Fear the Net

[Mannerism]

The most telling point in the article:

The government wants to encourage the Internet's growth as a commercial medium. But Beijing fears its other use as a forum for political dissent.

Now let's revisit the second sentence:

But Washington fears its other use as a forum for terrorist activity.

So, Beijing mandates NetNanny, and Washington mandates Carnivore.

Yep, sure am glad I live in a society completely unlike China.