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Forget MTV, I Want My Internet!
shystershep writes "Teenagers in China are apparently pretty serious about getting internet access. This article on the English version of the online newspaper Xinhuanet details gang-type activity to get around China's ban on persons under 18 entering internet cafes. I may get a little cranky if I don't get my daily net fix, but I've never beat anyone with a fire extinguisher because of it (not that I remember, anyway)."
XI'AN, May 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Staff members of an Internet service chain in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province in northwest China, resigned Saturday over retaliatory assaults they had suffered for barring minors.
Local police said Sunday they have stepped in to investigate an assault that happened Friday night at the Sanfuwan Outlet of the Hongshulin Internet Cafe Chain, which staff said was among a series of attacks by young people at the cafe.
One of the staff, surnamed Chen, said he stopped seven or eightteenagers about to enter on the morning of May 6 because some of them looked very young. Chen asked to see their identity cards to verify their age. The teenagers refused and threatened to beat anyone who "dared to check identity cards." They tried to force their way into the cafe but were stopped.
Amid recent campaigns to crack down on illegal Internet cafes and to ban people under 18 from entering, Internet cafes in China have been ordered to check identity cards of guests before they are allowed in. Otherwise Internet cafes themselves will face harsh punishment varying from a fine to closure.
According to Chen, a group of some 16 young people broke into the cafe on the night of May 7, two guarding the door and two taking over the reception desk and telephones to prevent reportingto the police. The rest began to beat and punch Chen, some striking him with aluminum rubbish bins and fire extinguishers. Security guards of the cafe were also beaten.
In an interview with a local newspaper, Chen showed the injuries to his back, head and face. His nose bridge bone was almost broken.
According to Chen's colleagues, it was not the first such retaliation assault at the outlet. In their resignation letter, they listed many beating cases because of stopping young people. Their bicycle tires were deliberately damaged many times. Some even launched an online assault to the cafe's server, cut the broadband line, input junk programs into computers and poured mineral water into displays.
To tighten security at the cafe, the local police station helped the cafe employ four security guards in April, but it proved not enough to prevent such assaults.
The police have started investigation into the case and vowed to track down those responsible, said Tian Yuming, a senior policeofficer.
China has shut down more than 8,600 unlicensed Internet cafes for admitting juveniles since February. To bar minors from Internet cafes, local governments across China have been ordered not to approve any Internet cafe operations in residential areas or within 200 meters of primary and high schools.
The Chinese government has launched a nationwide check on all Internet cafes from February to August to halt the entry of minorsand to prevent access to detrimental information through the Internet. Enditem
"Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
The fear of punishment keeps people from breaking some of the laws. But since the athorities don't have the resources to check up on everything, they have to let a lot slide.
When the central government makes a drice at some kind of crime all the regions have to show some results. However I don't always think that the local athorities put so much effort into it...
On example is the search for pirated DVD movies. Every year China have a big drive to shut down the pirates. They raid shops and warehouses and confiscate tons of pirated DVD's. The week after the same people are back in the same stores selling pirated DVDs again. And the police have nice numbers of how many pirate shops they have shut down. Making the government very pleased.
So sometimes the numbers of how many operations they have shut down, might not mean so much, since it's hart to tell if they mean permanently or just temporarely.
The spread of news seems to be a very sensetive area for the Chineese government though, so perhaps they do have as strict enforcement of the law as reported
Movie age restrictions are voluntary. There are some theatres now that are allowing parents to get a pass for their children that allow them to see R rated movies on their own.
For TV, govt. restrictions exist only for broadcast TV, cable censoring is purely voluntary.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
In India too, the government banned minors from entering Cyber Cafes, and asked owners to verify the users identities. Worse, people using cyber cafes had to give their address so that they can be verified in case of any problem.
:-) So, that law resides in the book only and I think it was made in the first place to appease certain left elements.
But like many other laws, people realised it was rubbish and thus no one took care to implement it
"In questions of science the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual."
What do the Chinese Communist and the Imperial Japanese Army have in common? They like to kill Chinese peasants.
Hoist Number One and Number Six.
The dictatorship was supposed to be carried out by the working class , not by the state.
go read for yourself
did you get Marx confused with Lenin?
It would have been quicker for you to googlenews for iraq newspaper uprising then post that comment ;-)
Third down contains:
Sadr has led an insurrection for more than a month against the US-led occupation of Iraq, sparked by the closing down of his newspaper
I can give you more if you like
Which is why the common advice given to travellers is: Never, ever, stop to give money to beggars.
I got mobbed once in Yunan making the short, 15 feet trip from the restaurant exit to my ride, just cause somebody in my group gave an old lady some coins.
> China has a very checkered history of human rights abuses.
Indeed, as does the USA.
I've learned that lesson from the Brady bunch, take any opportunity to show the usefullness of firearms, as opposed to the "evil" that's so often proclaimed.
in there even when it's totally irrelevant
Irrelevant? Aren't we discussing deposing fascist states? Unless one is ruled by a "moral enemy", the British in India for example, there are two options for escaping the situation: First, hope the government goes away. Think of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Be patient and maybe it will end in your lifetime. The second option is a full-on armed revolt, like we've seen through-out history, and is not feasible without privately owned weaponry.
At the bottom of the endless pile of paper work which characterizes all regulation lies a gun.
Alan Greenspan