China Closes 1,129 Web Sites

"The related departments have closed 1,278 illegal web sites and 114 sites promoting gambling, superstitious activities and cult propaganda according to the information provided by the informers. ... China's Ministry of Public Security rewarded a number of informers since China launched a nationwide campaign to crack downon the illegal on-line operations."

Comments

Also blocking sites in Thailand

[angkor]

Something similiar is happening in Thailand: http://2bangkok.com/blocked.shtml

So how long...?

[FireFury03]

So how long until I can remove the block on a pair of CNLink's /20 networks from my firewall?

My web server was getting massively log spammed from them (even though I don't publish my web stats). The first time round I actually bothered to report the attacks to their abuse address but naturally got no response at all. So the second time I got attacked I had no choice but to just drop all traffic from both their /20's.

When will these ISPs realise they're shooting themselves in the foot by forcing everyone to just outright block their networks?

China Cracks Down on Freedoms...

[borgheron]

So far it seems as though they've cracked down on:

1) Freedom of Religion.
2) Freedom of Expression.

Now, I know that we're not talking about the US here, so the Chinese don't have these rights. It's so blatant that the Chinese are never going to change their stance on human rights.

Gotta love the Chinese.

GJC

Re:China Cracks Down on Freedoms...

[tacocat]

China Migrating from Socialism to a Capitalistic Republic. America Migrating from a Democracy to a Capitalistic Republic.

Re:China Cracks Down on Freedoms...

[MrNemesis]

I'll see your American capitalistic republic, and raise you a corporate plutocracy.

Re:China Cracks Down on Freedoms...

[WIAKywbfatw]

It's not so blatant to me. Change will come, but it will most likely come slowly rather than quickly, if for no reason other than China is a big country, with a huge population that enjoy a range of disparate lifestyles.

Sometime in our lifetimes China is going to become a consumer culture, consuming many of the goods that it already makes and exports to the rest of the world. My PDA was made in China. My keyboard was made in China. My colour laser printer was made in China. Can you see where I'm going with this?

Sooner or later, China's markets will open up to near Western levels. Chinese people will buy widescreen TVs, computers and designer goods. And when that happens, the gates will open too, albeit in a controlled manner. How strict those controls will be or how they will function is open to speculation but for over a decade now China has been becoming a more relaxed and less restrictive society.

Just because they have limits on internet access now that doesn't mean that they will always have limits on internet access. The US once had limits on the rights of blacks and women, yet it progressed from that point and China will to.

Don't forget, China isn't just a different country it's a different country with a totally different culture to that which we're familiar with in the West. Concepts that seem alien to us are natural to them, and vice versa. And, obviously, it's the negative aspects of Chinese society that always get played up rather than the positive ones.

And when it comes to things as subjective as human rights, please realise that there's an "eye of the beholder" aspect to be considered. You might regard China as being oppressive when it comes to religion or expression but there's not a country in the world that hasn't done the same at some time or another or that has its own human rights abuses going on right now.

So to recap, don't dismiss China as being stuck permanently on hold. China will progress and develop, but at its own pace and in its own time. Who knows when change will come and how suddenly. After all, the day before the Berlin Wall fell, or before Nelson Mandela was released, or any ground-breaking event, who would have predicted that such a radical change would come overnight?

Re:China Cracks Down on Freedoms...

[IO ERROR]

China Migrating from Socialism to a Capitalistic Republic. America Migrating from a Democracy to a Capitalistic Republic.

I'm afraid one of those is a little backward. Try this instead:

America Migrating from a Republic to a Capitalistic Democracy

If you think America was ever intended to be a democracy, you are sadly mistaken. The founding fathers considered democracy to be the most vile thing they could think of, even worse than the Crown from which they separated. That's why they didn't set one up here.

Re:China Cracks Down on Freedoms...

[rattler14]

Please mod parent up. For details, please confer with article 4 section 4 of a little document I like to call "the US constitution"

http://www.constitution.org/cons/constitu.txt

we have a constitutional republic, it just turns out we've turned it into a democracy... aka the tyranny of the majority.

Re:China Cracks Down on Freedoms...

[rossdee]

Mod -1 Obscure Heinlein reference

Re:China Cracks Down on Freedoms...

[Krach42]

Not entirely. The US is a Democratic Republic. We are a democracy, just not as much a democracy as other governments.

Likely, China is a democracy. It just doesn't really mean much because the vote is so controlled. But they still allow *citizens* to vote. (Keyword: Citizen. If you define Citizen to be "white land-owning male" then you have early America, if you defined Citizen to be "member of the communist party" then you have what the USSR was)

This confuses the heck out of people when they're told that East Germany was "Deutsche Democratische Republik" (German Democratic Republic) Anytime I tell an American about this, they say, "But they were a communist state!" It just confuses people to pit Democracy against Communism. Because they're apples and oranges.

no... Re:In Communist China

[buswolley]

the internet kills you.

These people don't survive long in those prisons.

China oh China when will you give up, and be democratic.. so that you can kick our American financial butts?

Re:no... Re:In Communist China

[borgheron]

Seriously, God help the United States when/if they ever realize this.

GJC

Re:no... Re:In Communist China

[meringuoid]

The US wont need God, a prosperous (capitalist) China would be a good thing financially for all concerned.

China already is capitalist. They say they're communist, but then North Korea say they're democratic...

Re:no... Re:In Communist China

[Krach42]

Seriously, God help the United States when/if they ever realize this.

Actually, they'd ban this message, because it exhibits "superstition". I'd complain about this more, except it's all left up to definition of the Government.

For instance, China sees Christianity as subversive and superstition. So, they repress it.

In Germany, Scientology is seen as potentially subversive, and Germany taking a very strong stance against radical groups (go figure why... I mean, having been taken over by a radical faction that caused some of the most infamous crimes in the world? They wouldn't be paranoid about that anymore would they?) have repessed Sociology. There are a lot of Scientologists that gripe all the time that Germany is repressing them. Heck, it's for a good point, they repress *all* radical and reactionary groups.

But, back on topic, Christians around the world are upset at China, and gripe about it a lot. Although, I suppose one difference is that Germany doesn't imprision and execute people who preach Scientology, they just don't recognize it as a valid religion. (Thus, no tax benifits for donations, and they recieve none of the tax collected by the government for the Churches)

How many sites exactly?

[cybertears]

China Closes 1,129 Web Sites The related departments have closed 1,278 illegal web sites and 114 sites ... how many sites were closed? Is it 1,129 as the headline reads, or 1,392 as the body states (1,278 + 114)

1984?

[james_bray]

"...China's Ministry of Public Security..."

Sounds suspiciously like the "Ministry of Truth" from to me....

Re:1984?

[Peden]

Exchange that with "Homeland Security" and I think you will get the picture....

Wond'ring aloud...

[Black Parrot]

> The related departments have closed 1,278 illegal web sites and 114 sites promoting gambling, superstitious activities and cult propaganda

Was Slashdot listed under "superstitious activities", or "cult propaganda"?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:We are on the path now

[Rhone]

Just try to be a true radical online ( or in real life ) now, advocating for the next revolution.. Outlining details techniques and equipment manufacture..

I'm always amused by comments like this on Slashdot. Come on--no government, however "free" the country is, is going to look kindly upon people who advocate overthrowing it. Just because a government was put in place by a revolution doesn't mean it would be perfectly happy with being overthrown by another one.

Gov't Represses Rights of Chinese People

[reallocate]

The Chinese people have the same rights as Americans or anyone else. We all have the same rights. The Chinese government simply represses the rights of its citizens.

It is both wrong an very dangerous to think our rights come to us as gifts from our governments.

Re:China is freer in some ways

[PasteEater]

You can't speak out against the government (the more I hear angry, uninformed EU and US Bush protesters, the more I think I might actually enjoy that), you can't openly practice religion (what?? no Catholic priest child molesters, no Christian wackos and their 10 commandments plaques, no Muslim fundamentalists to kill me?), and you can't have websites that spread superstition. And this is bad... how?

You have removed choices for me and for everyone else.

Perhaps you would like me to pick out your clothes for tomorrow. Better yet, I'll decide what kind of car you drive (if I decide you get to drive a car at all) and then I'll figure out if you are worthy of...?

We each make choices everyday. Whether they *seem* like small or large decisions, would you like someone else to make those decisions for you?

Re:China is freer in some ways

[operagost]

In China, prison is where you go if you break the law. In the US, prison is where you go if you break the law and couldn't afford a top-tier lawyer to get you out of it (I am still wondering how Scott Peterson can be sentanced to death in the absence of hard evidence, yet OJ Simpson walks free).

In Communist China, law breaks YOU!

You must be joking. Just because China enforces their unjust, inhumane laws consistently does not make them superior. If you believed that, you'd be posting from *.cn right now. Oh yeah, Slashdot is probably blocked.