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Study Shows China Tightens Internet Filtering

Posted by Zonk on from the not-that-any-chinese-people-will-see-this dept.

Torrey Clark writes "China is the world's leading censor of the Internet, filtering web sites, blogs, e-mail, and online forums for sensitive political content, according to a study released Thursday. The OpenNet Initiative said that China employs thousands officials and private citizens to build a 'pervasive, sophisticated, and effective' system of Internet censorship. 'ONI sought to determine the degree to which China filters sites on topics that the Chinese government finds sensitive, and found that the state does so extensively,' said the study. 'Chinese citizens seeking access to Web sites containing content related to Taiwanese and Tibetan independence, Falun Gong, the Dalai Lama, the Tiananmen Square incident, opposition political parties, or a variety of anti-Communist movements will frequently find themselves blocked,' the report said."

2 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Works fine from here. by the+MaD+HuNGaRIaN · · Score: 0, Redundant

    And more from the "Somebody had to say it" dept:

    In Soviet Russia, the Internet filters YOU!!!

    and

    In China, only old people use the internet.

  2. Re:Which is one good reason why... by jtbauki · · Score: 1, Redundant
    There is a philosophical question under all this. Do people have an inherent right to have any and all information free? I don't think anyone wants ALL information floating around free. What most would consider freedom advocates will still want all spam shut down. Somwhere a little to the right of that, some will want websites teaching how to make bombs shut down. A little more to the right, some will want porn shut down.

    Exactly. No country TRULY has freedom of speech. Even in the US there are many censors working to protect the country's own values. Supposedly, the only censorship is prevent someone from offending others or hurting others such as yelling 'fire' in a crowded theatre or cursing out an officer. Yet, where do we draw the line on proclaiming something is offensive? Public nudity is illegal yet I find nothing offensive about seeing Jessica Alba nude. (i do find nude /. users offensive though =) ). Yet other people find nudity offensive. Apparently writing in your journal about some of your thoughts in high school is also deemed illegal. YOUR THOUGHTS!!! Not even expressing their thoughts to others, people get arrested. How about suicide? Illegal. Can you tell someone to commit suicide? nope. accessary to murder. But isn't there freedom of speech????

    When you judge a country like China, you have to judge them from their own standards. Everyone likes to say how every human has an inherent right to freedom of speech. NOPE. Freedom of speech is just a VALUE that America has made 'inherent'. Likewise, freedom of speech is NOT a VALUE that China holds dear. Let me clue you in on something, OPPRESSION has existed for a FAR longer time than freedom of speech. Whites, blacks, and asians are all guilty of it, even today.

    As a last thought, since we can't do anything about China, why don't we just try to fix the problems in our country? It's definitely far from perfect