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Adopt a [Chinese] Blog

malorkus writes "Here's a great way for bloggers and others with decent web hosting to help fight internet censorship in China and other restrictive countries. Adopt a Chinese Blog aims to match up censored bloggers with volunteer hosts."

22 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. Block by turtled · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Wouldn't their government then just block access to certain servers / sites / blogs?

    --
    "I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." -- Sigmund Freud
    1. Re:Block by Crimson+Dragon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes, but the point of this seems to lie in the fact that enough people doing this will hassle the powers that be and bring attention on a larger scale to the rights violations going on there.

      --
      The Crimson Dragon
    2. Re:Block by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Insightful
      that, plus if they post in chinese and you can't understand it, you may very well be hosting a government "agent provocateur".

      ... or, if they post in english (or ingrish) then they aren't really communicating very effectively with their own countrymen, so it becomes just another political statement w/o much impact.

      IOW, a cute idea, but not very practical or logical. Perhaps we're being trolled?

    3. Re:Block by AKAImBatman · · Score: 5, Informative
      There are no rights violations. It is Chinese law that is, in our opinions, flawed, but what gives you or I the right to say so?

      I thought the same thing, but several very intelligent posters pointed out that there *are* rights being violated. Article 35 of the Chinese Constitution states:

      Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration.

      Now I realize that the Chinese Constitution may not be worth the paper its printed on (I know of many violations of the constitution, including friends who fled China due to religious persecution - read: arrest/jail - directly in contradiction to article 36), but that shouldn't stop the Chinese from fighting for rights they've been explicitly granted.

      A good writeup on the situation from a Chinese Law Professor is here, with a well reasoned rebuttal here.

      Let's hope the Chinese people are able to fight for their constitution. If only it was as easy as taking the case before the Chinese Supreme Court. :-/
    4. Re:Block by Intron · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Nobody gives you rights. You have rights. There are only people trying to take them away.

      If all people exercise their right of free speech, free press and free association then those rights will persevere. If you back down, then you will cede your rights. Its easy to promote a popular cause. Its the unpopular ones that define your character.

      Anyway, I'd like to help, but my ISP won't let me host a blog on my server. And I have to wash my cat this weekend.

      --
      Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
    5. Re:Block by Khuffie · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And the US constitution isn't being violated by the Patriot Act?

    6. Re:Block by Belial6 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "plus if they post in chinese and you can't understand it, you may very well be hosting a government "agent provocateur"."

      That should be just fine with the adopters. Free speech is free speech. If you start deciding that only certain kinds of speech should be allowed, then your no better than the government censors.

  2. In soviet Russia by farker+haiku · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hrm... so,
    In Soviet Russia, Bloggers host you!

    --
    Your sig(k) has been stolen. There is a puff of smoke!
  3. Adopt... by British · · Score: 5, Funny

    *Sally Struthers walks on*

    For just 5 megs a month you can adopt a Chinese blog. You will recieve letters, a digital camera picture and more from your sponsored blog. Your blog will recieve bandwidth, FTP access and encryption...

    Just 5 megs a month. Isn't that worth it?

  4. Why not? by ch0p · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What's to stop the government from arresting people who are trying to get around their censorship?

  5. Re:What is their major malfunction? by Curtman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Leave China alone for Christ's sake. You're not going to change things, especially if you are NOT IN CHINA!"

    No way. This has gone way too far.

    If there is truth to these accusations that the Chinese government is intimidating citizens of my country in any way for something such as practicing Falun Gong, then we have a serious problem that need s addressing.

    I'm in no way in favour of military action, but this is clearly and act of war on their part if it is true.

  6. Punishment? by OverkillTASF · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is there some law in China against circumventing the censorship laws? Like.... What is the potential punishment that you are probably incurring upon whatever China-person you "help out"?

  7. Re:Fighter Censorship at Home!! by archmagusrm · · Score: 3, Informative

    Methinks the distinction here is censorship of information and legitimate opinion rather than censorship of trolls. We like to censor trolls, nobody wants to wake up to one in the morning...

  8. This sounds like a good idea, BUT... by Rude+Turnip · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd be scared shitless to visit China if I let some dissident bloggers use some of my hosting space. The Chinese govt. is probably paranoid enough to start putting together a list of individuals who have helped these "dangerous" individuals.

    Another concern I'd have is that a blogger might have lots of harsh words about some local official, but how do I know it isn't simply slander? And what would my liabilities be in such a case?

  9. Out by Capt+James+McCarthy · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think I'll outsource my blog to India.

    --
    There are no loopholes. It's either legal or it's not.
  10. Outsourced by CorporateWhoremone · · Score: 3, Funny

    You can't outsource to the US. That just dosn't mesh with the United States' plan for global domination.

    --
    You make fun of France once and your Karma is never the same...
  11. Not to rain on your parade but.. by matvei · · Score: 5, Interesting

    what's stopping the Chinese secret service (or whatever) to register with this service as hosts, collect all the information needed to snatch the blogger and make an example out of him and his family?

  12. Great idea... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Would any chinese adopt my european CVS?

    That would be great! If I could move my project to a free country. Reading trivial patents is so boring you know...

  13. Does anyone here appreciate the irony? by tigre · · Score: 5, Insightful

    China is a safe haven for all sorts of internet activity which is illegal and reprehensible here, I guess it's only fair that we return the favor.

  14. Webspace by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
    I'm looking for a free, fully-managed, load-balanced hosting environment with unlimited bandwidth and space, free domain registration, SQL Server and the dotNet framework.

    In exchange, I promise to be scathingly critical about nation you choose.

  15. Ah, the irony... by The+Woodworker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've read hundreds of posts on slashdot that were wrongly modded down (censored) as trolls because people didn't like what they had to say, and others modded up as 'insightful' with content like 'MS SUCKS' and nothing else to say. Now this community is bitching about China?!! The looking glass is a mirror.

    BTW, -1 as a troll. To hell with my karma.

    --
    Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach him to fish and he'll wipe out the species.
  16. Re:At the risk of being off-topic... by Daniel_Staal · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The democratic or republican forms of government are not designed to be the best form of government: a benevolent, wise, dictator/king is a far better system. What they are designed for is to limit the downside. While a good dictator/king is the probably the best form of government, a bad dictator/king is probably the worst.

    The point of a democratic or representative system is that the worst case is limited, because no one person has the power to totally screw everything up. Presumably, therefore, at least some people will be decent, keeping the system from total failure.

    So, yes, a planned economy can outperform a non planned one, if the planners are very good. A controlled political system can out perform a non planned one, if the planners are good.

    But you have to have good planners. And they have to stay good, and operate in the interest of the system, not themselves.

    An uplanned system, where everyone operates in their own best intrest, works fairly well, and does not depend on finding exeptional people to run it.

    (My personal feeling, by the way, is that their economic growth has been more the result of technology upgrades than anything else. The US/Europe leads the world in productivity-enhancing tech, and a country that can jump a few grades closer to us will grow a lot faster than we will because we have to develop the next steps.)

    --
    'Sensible' is a curse word.