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Yahoo Agrees to Censor Chinese Portal

Posted by timothy on from the of-the-people-for-the-people dept.

Bonker writes: "This article at Salon indicates that Yahoo, as part of a larger pledge to 'purge the Web of content that China's communist government deems subversive', has agreed to censor 'pernicious information that may jeopardize state security and disrupt social stability' from its Chinese portal. Yahoo is one of about 300 other ISPs and websites who have signed the 'Public Pledge on Self-discipline for China Internet Industry'."

2 of 273 comments (clear)

  1. What I don't see by Mr+Guy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Is how submersive sites are judged.

    Looking at the agreement summary, it is OBVIOUS to me Yahoo would sign it. While we like to focus (and we do) on how evil the chinese government can be (and they are), this may not be the best example of that.

    What Yahoo seems to have agreed to:
    1) Don't host anything illegal to your target audience.
    2) Don't promote porn to China.
    3) Don't attempt to incite revolution.

    I'm sure once you take local laws into context (which their TOS already does, no doubt) it seems to be nothing they haven't already agreed to before.

    Go ahead, post pictures to yahoo of hardcore porn where someone uses a bomb as vibrator and explains how to make it. See your browser smoke as they pull the page as fast as they can, even on Yahoo USA.

    --
    Never confuse volume with power.
  2. So, let me get this straight... by RyanFenton · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...Yahoo, an widely used index of web sites in general, has agreed to take down any links to sites that the government of China asks them to, no questions asked? No burden of proof needed, or system of challenging decisions made?

    From on point of view, this seems a pretty dumb decision on the part of Yahoo. But on the other hand, if Yahoo just agrees to the contract to get the support of the Chinese government, then happens to drag it's feet and "forget" to censor things, it's a nice beaurocratic turn around until the Chinese government catches on and cancells the agreement, by which time more Chinese citizens will have taken a liking to Yahoo.

    So, depending on how it's used and "enforced", this might yet be a good thing. :^)

    Ryan Fenton