Posted by
timothy
on from the favored-nation dept.
Lemmingue writes "China government is, again, restraining the access to internet. Ars Technica says they are now blocking the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. How much time will it take for to Slashdot be blocked?"
Speaking of blocking...
by
the_other_one
·
· Score: 4, Funny
How much time will it take for to Slashdot be blocked?"
Slashdot is already blocked in China and India. Geeks are still productive overseas. This is the main reason for the offshore outsourcing frenzy.
How soon can Slashdot be blocked in North America.
-- 134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
Slashdot not going to be blocked
by
0x0d0a
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
How much time will it take for to Slashdot be blocked?
Slashdot *does* criticize Chinese policy, including information control and the like.
However, it's also extremely critical of the current US administration, which China's current administration is not a tremendous fan of.
Also, Slashdot (at least the English slashdot.org) is not in Chinese, limiting the number of people that can read it. Wikipedia is translated to Chinese.
I do agree that this sucks. Technically, China is still communist, and Wikipedia is about as fine an example of the triumph of successful communist principles (community-owned, from according to assets, to according to need) as you could ask for. Seems like a stupid idea on the part of China.
Re:Slashdot not going to be blocked
by
tobar+mersa
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Given two hypothetical countries, both with brutally despotic rulers and the same amount of rights, with the exception of one being centrally planned, and the other possessing a free market, which country is freer?
They are equally unfree. Simply because a person is free to own a factory in one land does not make it more free than a land where a person is forbidden from owning a factory. The fact that a person is free to accumulate great wealth in this scenario has nothing to do about the freedom to speak out against the crimes of the Government.
My point was "Free societies require (at least mostly) free markets." Rebutting this statement by listing states which possessed a free market and yet were not completely and utterly free does not disprove my point
I probably misread your comment. You also wrote: I think it's time that people finally accepted that the Austrian / Chicago school of economic thought [emphasis added] is far closer to freedom than any of the garbage Marx, Engels, and Lenin were spewing. Thus, I assumed you considered economic and societal freedom, if not causal, at least correlational. I was simply trying to point out that Free Markets do not require Free Societies; thus, a Free Society could easily slide into a non-Free one, whilst the market still went about its work.
Certainly you will agree that a free market economy is far less hospitable for tyrannical rulers and oppressive regimes than a centrally planned economy.
I agree it is far less hospitable than other forms of economic systems. Just it is also not wholy inhospitable. After all, a dictator could easily permit a free market for anyone who does not oppose the regime.
given enough examples, perhaps one should begin doubting the divinity of communism. There are certainly enough beliefs within the dogma of communism (must be attained through a revolution, forcefully taking controll from some and giving it to others, etc.) which would be conducive to the sort of "one-party dictatorships" that have historically emerged.
I think this is more a result of having nearly all Communist countries that lasted any appreciable length of time outside the U.S.S.R. modeled their development after the U.S.S.R. This means that the Coup d'Etat launched by Lenin often termed the October Revolution provided the effective base for single-party governance, as the Coup was mainly Bolshevik in character, and the following Civil War effectively quashed the other parties. Then Uncle Joe Stalin (or, as I prefer to call him, Tsar Josif) took over after Lenin's death, and squashed any rights which interfered with his outlook on how the country should be run (N.B.: this included economic rights. Lenin established the New Economic Policy, which broke up Government owned industries into different sections, which were then ordered to compete along pseudo-Free Market Lines; also, the ownership of small factories and of small stores of under, iirc, ten people was also legalized. Stalin made an alliance with the Old Bolsheviks promising to keep the NEP if he is installed into power instead of Trotsky, who vowed to rid the U.S.S.R. of the NEP. Then, after gaining power, Stalin did away with the NEP and the Old Bolsheviks both.) Then, when other forms of authoritarian Communists were trying to gain power, they followed the way that had worked in the U.S.S.R.
-- This sig space intentionally left blank.
Just another reason why...
by
Read+Icculus
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
We need to develop tools to share and distribute information securely, anonymously, and efficiently. Government control in these matters is not in our best interests, and in the best interests of the rest of the world. Sure this sounds like your normal "information wants to be free" rant, but when the government here in the United States tries to send someone to jail on trumped up Terrorism Charges for running a website... well it's quite clear that freedom of speech and the rights I hold dear mean nothing to those in power. "Even" in the "freeset nation on earth".
Sure there's freenet and what have you, but when it comes to oppressive governments I'd rather not have anyone know I'm functioning as a freenet node and a relay for certain information.
-- Anti-social? My code is just platform-specific.
Re:Just another reason why...
by
reverius
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
check out i2p... maybe it's exactly what you're looking for. if you're really impressed, and you can, please contribute! we need this network functional and -used- as soon as possible, given the state of politics worldwide and the necessity for free speech.
http://www.i2p.net/
They are so fragile
by
ericandrade
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
If the chinese government thinks that wikipedia is a menace to their power, I wish them good luck in the years to come.
zh.wikipedia on Tianenmen
by
beeplet
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I thought it was interesting - but not terribly surprising - that the access was cut off just prior to the anniversary of the Tianenmen Square massacre. It's odd to be able to access a Chinese site from the US that is blocked there... (Or has the block been lifted?) In any case, I was poking around and found their page on Tianenmen. Some of the pictures are familiar - I wonder how many people in China would find them as familiar as I do? Too bad they can't see them.
Still, I think this is a stopgap measure at best. The wikipedia is an easy target because it's a clearing house for links to information, but as long as there is any internet, there will be a way for this information to be passed around. A better model for disseminating information underground would be a highly decentralized system - harder to navigate, but more robust.
I also thought it was odd that there were only 100 regular contributors, out of a country of 1 billion+ people. Is it lack of computer access? Or fear of reprisals? I have to have admiration for the people who put the zh.wikipedia together in the first place.
Re:zh.wikipedia on Tianenmen
by
Jon+Chatow
·
· Score: 5, Informative
At first, zh was blocked in and around Berlin a couple of days before the anniversary; this block has since expanded to cover most of our IPs, and our whole set of DNS domains, and being blocked throughout China, from what word we have had passed on.
All Wikimedia servers are hosted in Florida, so life is unaffected for the rest of the world. Sadly, this is not the case for our Chinese brethren.
Wikipedia [[User:Jdforrester]].
-- James F.
Totalitarian societies
by
Red+Warrior
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
can't abide free flow of information.
All governments rely on the consent (or at least aquiesence) of the governed. As soon as the majority really BELIEVE that there is something better possible, it's all over.
-- "If, therefore, any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone."
~Epictetus
Why block Slashdot?
by
duffbeer703
·
· Score: 4, Funny
Any subversives looking for information to undermine the Communist regime would instead find themselves posting inane posts about dead operating systems, hot grits and beowulf clusters.
Hmm... maybe/. is actually a mind control device.
-- Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
Pro-China posting
by
GuyMannDude
·
· Score: 4, Funny
How much time will it take for to Slashdot be blocked?
We just have to liberally sprinkle lots of pro-China comments in our messages to ensure that our geeky breathern in the Far East can continue to enjoy the scintillating, intellectual banter found everyday on this great site.
Lucas should have cast Jet Li as Jango Fett!
I'll bet the upper levels of Starfleet Command are all Chinese. That's why you never see them on the Enterprise. They're too important to be in harm's way.
How China Edits /.
by
jazman_777
·
· Score: 4, Funny
How much time will it take for to Slashdot be blocked?"
All Chinese accounts read at mod level 6:Confucian.
-- Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
Big freaking clue
by
LWATCDR
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Roosevelt in a speech in January 1941 talked about the four freedoms. They have very little to do with economics. It is much more simple and human than Marx.
"In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression --everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way
-- everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want
--everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear,
--everywhere in the world."
What a world it could be. But China is not it. It is not even close. The US is not living up to this totaly but at least a lot of people in the US know where it should be going. I get sick to my stomach when I see all the idiots on Slashdot hold up the right to download kiddie porn and swap mp3s as freedoms. There are places where you can not teach your children about God if you do beleive in God with out worrying that your door will get kicked down and no one ever see you again! I do not care if a country is capitalist or not if they do not at least try for those four freedoms they are HELL. I know that some people belive trading with China will help it become free someday. I pray that they are right. Start with those four freedoms and then we can work on which system of ownership works the best!
-- See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Slashdot Mirror
How much time will it take for to Slashdot be blocked?"
Slashdot is already blocked in China and India. Geeks are still productive overseas. This is the main reason for the offshore outsourcing frenzy.
How soon can Slashdot be blocked in North America.
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
How much time will it take for to Slashdot be blocked?
Slashdot *does* criticize Chinese policy, including information control and the like.
However, it's also extremely critical of the current US administration, which China's current administration is not a tremendous fan of.
Also, Slashdot (at least the English slashdot.org) is not in Chinese, limiting the number of people that can read it. Wikipedia is translated to Chinese.
I do agree that this sucks. Technically, China is still communist, and Wikipedia is about as fine an example of the triumph of successful communist principles (community-owned, from according to assets, to according to need) as you could ask for. Seems like a stupid idea on the part of China.
May we never see th
We need to develop tools to share and distribute information securely, anonymously, and efficiently. Government control in these matters is not in our best interests, and in the best interests of the rest of the world. Sure this sounds like your normal "information wants to be free" rant, but when the government here in the United States tries to send someone to jail on trumped up Terrorism Charges for running a website... well it's quite clear that freedom of speech and the rights I hold dear mean nothing to those in power. "Even" in the "freeset nation on earth".
Sure there's freenet and what have you, but when it comes to oppressive governments I'd rather not have anyone know I'm functioning as a freenet node and a relay for certain information.
Anti-social? My code is just platform-specific.
If the chinese government thinks that wikipedia is a menace to their power, I wish them good luck in the years to come.
I thought it was interesting - but not terribly surprising - that the access was cut off just prior to the anniversary of the Tianenmen Square massacre. It's odd to be able to access a Chinese site from the US that is blocked there... (Or has the block been lifted?) In any case, I was poking around and found their page on Tianenmen. Some of the pictures are familiar - I wonder how many people in China would find them as familiar as I do? Too bad they can't see them.
Still, I think this is a stopgap measure at best. The wikipedia is an easy target because it's a clearing house for links to information, but as long as there is any internet, there will be a way for this information to be passed around. A better model for disseminating information underground would be a highly decentralized system - harder to navigate, but more robust.
I also thought it was odd that there were only 100 regular contributors, out of a country of 1 billion+ people. Is it lack of computer access? Or fear of reprisals? I have to have admiration for the people who put the zh.wikipedia together in the first place.
All governments rely on the consent (or at least aquiesence) of the governed. As soon as the majority really BELIEVE that there is something better possible, it's all over.
"If, therefore, any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone."
~Epictetus
Any subversives looking for information to undermine the Communist regime would instead find themselves posting inane posts about dead operating systems, hot grits and beowulf clusters.
/. is actually a mind control device.
Hmm... maybe
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
How much time will it take for to Slashdot be blocked?
We just have to liberally sprinkle lots of pro-China comments in our messages to ensure that our geeky breathern in the Far East can continue to enjoy the scintillating, intellectual banter found everyday on this great site.
There, I've done my part.
GMD
watch this
All Chinese accounts read at mod level 6:Confucian.
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
Roosevelt in a speech in January 1941 talked about the four freedoms. They have very little to do with economics. It is much more simple and human than Marx.
"In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression --everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way
-- everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want
--everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear,
--everywhere in the world."
What a world it could be. But China is not it. It is not even close. The US is not living up to this totaly but at least a lot of people in the US know where it should be going. I get sick to my stomach when I see all the idiots on Slashdot hold up the right to download kiddie porn and swap mp3s as freedoms. There are places where you can not teach your children about God if you do beleive in God with out worrying that your door will get kicked down and no one ever see you again!
I do not care if a country is capitalist or not if they do not at least try for those four freedoms they are HELL. I know that some people belive trading with China will help it become free someday. I pray that they are right. Start with those four freedoms and then we can work on which system of ownership works the best!
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.