Slashdot Mirror
Bloggers Test New MS China Filter
earthbound kid writes "Rebecca MacKinnon at Global Voices Online has set up a test of Microsoft's censored blogs on MSN China (see previous Slashdot story) with screenshots. It seems that MSN rejected titling a new blog 'I love freedom of speech, human rights, and democracy' (in Chinese) because 'The title must not contain prohibited language, such as profanity.' MacKinnon managed to use a workaround and got a pro-freedom blog up, for the moment."
Why not use pornsites' tactics in here?
Like for example, "dmeocarcy" instead of "democracy", "frit psot" instead of well youknow, etc?
IF YOU DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH:
* You must have a HotMail account...
Isn't writing these instructions in English a bit like having drive-up ATM's in Braille?
When you're not looking, this sig is in Latin.
What about those kids who got in trouble with the SS (secret service) when the sang a parody of a song, containing words "kill" and "clinton", etc? Bah.
We've had 44 presidents, 4 assasinated while in office. 4 more who have had attempts on their life while in office. That's 18% of the the presidents so far.
The Secret Services job is to protect the President, his family, other high ranking officials and their families and foriegn dignitaries. They take their job seriously. They investigate ALL instances of possible threats because one of them just might be real. A guy I knew was pissed at a cop and said "I'm gonna kill the president!" The SS showed up at his door by the end of the week to find out if he was a threat or not. They found out he wasn't and left him alone.
So clarify what you mean by the kids or let the SS do their job.
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
Don't be so unoriginal; make up your own characters.
... and secret agents in the restaurants listening to your every move.
Really, I think a lot of people who are against copyrights are simply too lazy to make up their own original stuff. Yes, I know, it's harder, but it's not theft of other people's ideas, either.
For example, many people complain about the extension of copyrights in citing Disney's efforts to retain the copyright to Mickey Mouse. Well, why shouldn't the Disney Corporation retain those rights? They developed and nurtured the character over decades. Why should people who had no stake in the character, who did not create it or make it grow, have the right to use it in, say, advertisements for some widget company?
And it's a lot different from China. This is an issue of political free speech, of dissent from their regime. If you were in China, you would not be allowed to say the regional equivalent of "Bush is Hitler!" We can say "Bush is Hitler" because this is a free country, and, quite frankly, because Bush isn't actually Hitler.
You might want to try visiting a totalitarian country someday. Try Cuba; a gorgeous tropical island, wonderful friendly people
America, for all its faults, is nothing at all like a totalitarian country. Those who say it is truly have no clue of what life under tyranny is really like.
D
There often is a difference between what's legal and what's right in a moral sense - in other words, the "right" in "a right" is not the same as in "morally right".
China may have the legal right to do whatever it wants with its citizens, no matter what that is, but it doesn't mean that it's morally OK for them to do it. Furthermore, China *did* sign and ratify the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - in fact, there even was a Chinese professor (Zhang Pengjun) on the commission that drafted the declaration.
That being said - as has been reported, there *is* not even a law in China that would require censorship of words such as "democracy". MSN is simply sucking up here, in one of the worst ways imaginable.
quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
China is a sovereign nation and has full rights to what goes on inside their borders. We in the US may not *like* it, but their laws are their laws.
Why the sudden change of heart? I don't seem to remember THAT little detail stopping US in the past 15 years while being the world's bull^H^H^H^H "policeman" and "taking charge" in Panama, Haiti, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq... Or perhaps it's because the Chinese are strong enough to seriously bite the US in the ass that all of a sudden people stop to think? I think a little honesty is needed here.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Sorry for the spelling, I had to get past the slashdot profanity filters.
It should be noted that Disney made up neither Snow White nor Beauty And The Beast.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
Oh, poor China is in trouble and the Chinese people are suffering. Don't worry, Americans to the rescue!! Aren't we all glad that we have Americans? They're the reason why everything good on the earth happens.
And by your logic our form of government is the only valid form. Every other type of government is wrong and we should put considerable political pressure on them or just invade them right out and make it all better with 'democracy'. The grandparent isn't a troll, he's stating a fact. If you live in a country you live by the laws of that land. If you don't like the laws then move. I realize that moving isn't always possible for any number of reasons (financial, government, etc...), but that's life. The United States isn't, or shouldn't be, the big brother for every country on Earth.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for free speech, I just don't think we have a right to put our nose in China's internal affairs and tell them that they're wrong.
Except Microsoft does not have to obey the laws of the PRC. They are choosing too obey those laws. Is the money worth it Bill? What price is it worth to declare human rights profane?
It benefits a man nothing to sell his soul for the whole world... But for China....
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.