China Forces Websites To Register

Rodrigo Strauss writes "The Inquirer has the story that individual owners of websites and blogs must register with the government or face a shut-down. Apparently they will begin monitoring of all sites, both commercial and personal, beginning this month. Site owners have until the end of the month to register. The BBC has the story as well." From the BBC article: "'The internet has profited many people but it also has brought many problems, such as sex, violence and feudal superstitions and other harmful information that has seriously poisoned people's spirits,' said a statement on the MII website, explaining why the new rules were necessary."

Comments

Proving the Red Block still exists

[izznop]

Remember everyone, despite seeming very capitalist lately, China is communist. This wouldn't be even an article if it happened in Cuba.

Re:Proving the Red Block still exists

[Jack Taylor]

I think you'll find that true communism in the spirit of Marx doesn't have anything to do with censorship.

Re:Proving the Red Block still exists

[arose]

China is capitalist from one end of the Great Wall to the other and back again. Only an ignorant or a member of the Party would argue and only the ignorant would believe it.

Re:Proving the Red Block still exists

[GreyPoopon]

I think you'll find that true communism in the spirit of Marx doesn't have anything to do with censorship.

You are correct. The censorship is an afterthought that was developed to keep "communism" going when it was discovered that almost nobody would willingly stay committed to it. It goes hand-in-hand with the small elite class continuing to run the government (which is also not part of true communism).

Re:Proving the Red Block still exists

[rossifer]

Well, Marx actually railed against Mercantilism or Syndicalism (where the merchants are/own the government and use that power to maintain their position/income/power). He thought that "true capitalism" was a pipe dream and pure propaganda to keep people from complaining about the influence of business in government (he remains completely correct to this day). As an aside, Marx would have been appalled by all of the varieties of Communism and Socialism that have appeared and claimed foundations in his writing.

China has a largely capitalist economy with significant private ownership of capital but has an authoritarian system of government. The censorship, repression, imprisonment, and torture of citizens for expressing sentiments contrary to the official position has very little to do with the private or public ownership of capital and everything to do with the authoritarian aspects of their government.

I'll refrain from pointing out trends in the US government towards a more authoritarian model. The reality of that transistion is that the US merchants who exert so much control over our government would only allow such a thing to happen if 1) they believed it would improve their profits and 2) they could retain control of the new system.

Regards,
Ross

Re:Proving the Red Block still exists

[GOD_ALMIGHTY]

I think you'll find that true communism in the spirit of Marx doesn't have anything to do with censorship.

Marx's Communism has everything to do with imposing it's moral view on people. It naively believes in some ultimately authoritative truth that would be revealed to people if the circumstances were correct. That's why all Communist States have legal systems that are structured around the State as a parent, a teacher of morals. It's to fashion the perfect people in order to bring about the "True Communist Revolution", and if it doesn't work out, then the people weren't real Communists. Fascism does the same thing using economics, remember Hitler cursed the Germans, saying they weren't worthy of survival if those mongrel Russians beat them.

Censorship is just a tool of this parenting force, be it through legal or economic means. Marx would have used it in order to bring about the Communist Revolution. It's just that he was in a position of power where censorship was more harmful than good, in other words, he wasn't the censor.

Re:Proving the Red Block still exists

[RexRhino]

You can have Totalitarianism without Communism, that is true. But you cannot have Communism without totalitarianism. Communism is a subset of the larger group of totalitarian ideologies. Communism is, by its own definitition, a "Dictatorship of the Proletariat".

We have market economies becoming more and more totalitarian, that is true. But in all those cases, as they become more and more totalitarian, the government has greater control over the economy, and they become less and less free market. For example, George W. Bush, who brought us the Patriot Act, the War of Terror and such, also is responsible for the largest single increase in social spending in the Western world, has pledged more aid for HIV in Africa than all other nations combined, has signed broad new laws regulating the stock market and banking (which in terms of sheer volume, go far beyond anything in the Western world right now), he put tarrifs on European Steel and Chinese Textiles despite claiming to be for free trade. By any concrete form of measure (i.e. comparing changing social spending as a percentage of GDP, comparing the number of words in a law governing an industry, as opposed to arguing "Socialism is togetherness of mankind" or other subjective nonsense), George W. Bush is the most extreme Socialist in power in the Western world. He may claim to be "free-market", but in terms of actually implementing government policy, he is less free-market than many Euro-crats who outright claim to be Socialists.

So using someone like G. W. Bush as a model of a free-market dictator is incorrect. G.W.Bush is about as free-market as Fidel Castro. You could argue that Fidel Castro is actually more free market, as Castro has been liberalizing parts of his economy, where G.W.Bush has consistantly done the opposite.

superstitious

[null etc.]

The internet has profited many people but it also has brought many problems, such as sex, violence and feudal superstitions

I like how feudal superstitions rank amongst the top threats to a Communist government.

"In order for our government to work, you're not allowed to think like that, nor be presented with such ideas."

Such a government seems like it would have to rely upon barriers that prevent intercommunication of popular ideas amongst its citizens, especially with such a large population. Wouldn't it be interesting if 1984 became true in China?

I chide the story submitter for not ending his submission with a question. Allow me to suggest on:

"Could the Internet be the end of China as we know it?"

Nothing new...

[Anonymous Coward]

National interests replace freedom everywhere, not just in China.

End of story.

(Oh.. at least the chinese don't care about innovation-killing-patents like my European-Whore-Union next month.)

20 years later ...

[Anonymous Coward]

USA will be doing the same thing and we will have people give long lectures on how this is justified.

"Show me your papers, Yuri!"

Re:chinese government is fascist

[WindBourne]

And yes, when the USA government does something similar (and it will be coming soon), it is patriotic.

Re:And I think you'll find...

[Lehk228]

yes it does, in small voluntary communes, that is the only way it will work is in a setting small enough that eery contribution is felt by all.

Re:chinese government is fascist

[0kComputer]

What will be coming soon? Do you have any supporting information, or is this just your paranoid opinion?

Very true.

[jd]

I think you'll also find that censorship occurs in all countries, and that much of it is ludicrous. (Look at the list of books banned in various parts of the US - "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe"???)

In general, philosophies are rarely corrupt - if there is corruption, it is usually with an interpretation, an individual or (most often of all) both. The underlying ideas are usually not that bad, though there are always exceptions.

Americans, especially, are bad about seeing the defects in others and ignoring their own. Remove the log from your own eye, before removing the speck from your brother's eye. It really does help.

Keep this in mind

[Zak3056]

Whenever I see a "I'd take the ruler of North Korea over George W. Bush" or even a simple "US is teh sux0r!" post, it always burns me up that those same people are remarkably silent when we see something like this.

Yep, our nation has some serious problems right now, but we haven't (yet?) even come close to this kind of garbage. So for the next guy who says, "I can't wait for China to replace the US as the global superpower" all I can say is "be careful what you wish for.

China hasn't been communist for decades

[Colin Smith]

It's been called communist, but it's really just a totalitarian dictatorship.

No individual knows reality.

[elucido]

You have your American view of reality, you only know your reality, not the reality.

Re:chinese government is fascist

[That's Unpossible!]

Patriot act I and II that allows them to act hidden from its' citizens.

For a short period of time only, not indefinitely.

Runs a prison for "enemy combatants" (not civilians, but not military either) that has been accused by just about every neutral observer of being a gulag.

Uh huh... yeah, show me these neutral observers. Amnesty International? Democrats R Us? People related to former inmates? There are no neutral observers on this planet.

Invaded a country on made-up false pretenses.

Finding out something was false doesn't equal making it up.

Allows a traitor to stay in the white house.

Ha ok now we're on to the absurd. I don't really have a problem with Clinton, but I bet you weren't saying anything about this traitor when he was in office, were you? You know, the guy that went to Canada to avoid serving in the military?

Re:chinese government is fascist

[kz45]

Runs a prison for "enemy combatants" (not civilians, but not military either) that has been accused by just about every neutral observer of being a gulag.

compared to other countries in the world, our prisons are like a hotel. Go look at a prison in China sometime, and tell me the U.S. prison is like a gulag. BTW. Sadaam is still alive. This would not have been the case in almost any other country in the world.

In light of Nixon, Reagan, and GWB, Somethings remain the same.

I think you can add clinton to that list as well. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman".