Slashdot Mirror
China Declares War on Internet Pornography
segphault writes "The Chinese government has shut down nearly 600 pornographic web sites, and arrested over 200 people for distributing "obscene" content. The Chinese government has also started performing covert surveillance of mobile phone text messages in order to crack down on banking fraud and prostitution organized and perpetrated with text messages. Ars Technica has the story: 'With more than 100 million Internet users, China has the second largest population of web content consumers after the United States. Although the Chinese government promotes web use for business, education, and government activity, the communist regime has committed its resources to crushing web sites that challenge government authority, or distribute content that the government considers to be detrimental to society'"
there's always encryption. there's a whole world of dirty internet out there and if people want to see it they will find a way
This is just forcing people to use things like proxies or one of the many projects designed to bypass chinas tough filters...
"I reject your reality, and substitute my own" - Adam Savage
In the past they have:
- China: Police Shut Down Gay, Lesbian Event
- Rampant Violence and Intimidation Against Petitioners - Chinese citizens who petition Chinese authorities for the redress of grievances are attacked, beaten, threatened, and intimidated
Not to mention China's stance on Hongkong's pursuit of democracy...http://efil.blogspot.com/
I know that many people are going to scream, the Bushies are doing it right now. Well technically, they are not. The NSA is monitoring communications that are crossing borders to other countries. Constitutionally, this is legal, for the same reasons that customs is allowed to search your luggage without a warrant when you enter the country. However, it is against the FISA law, which expressly forbids it. For that, IMHO, the Bushies should be hung out to dry.
Yeah, why don't you try substituting the word "Clinton" for "Bush" in that sentence. "One starts with a hatred of Clinton, then one spirals outward, building one's worldview. In any conflicts between the worldview and reality, one defers to the hatred of Clinton."
Gee howdy! That pretty well sums up the Republican view always and forever of '92-'00 in just a few words. I've got an idea for you, Impy: now that your people temporarily have the House, the Senate, the White House, and the Supreme Court, why can't you be a good little asshole and put up with a little dissent from those of us squirming under the boot?
Oh, and you misspelled "impious". Dictionary.com, my Fox watching friend - check it out.
Please consider how Internet censorship is being implemented in the "free world" when reading this story.
Example: Starting January 1st 2006, it is illegal to have organized debate on how to by-pass copyright restrictions in Finland. It is also illegal to distribute software, also free software, that can be used to by-pass copyright restrictions. This is a violation of free speech in the Internet in The Free World(tm).
Another example: In many countries now it is illegal to inform that the World War II holocaust where claimed six million jews supposedly died is a hoax. You don't even need to be accused of lying, which you are not by informing about this issue, in many countries you will simply be put in prison on the vague charge of "denial".
And there are many, way too many, examples on how free speech is being violated and limited in the western world.
The first amendment seems to be the only one left in the USA now and it is under constant attack. Eye-ball the story and ignore place in the world (China), this is something every citizen should protest against, regardless of where in the world it happens - And it is, sadly, a trend that I see too clearly all over the world these days.
Btw. You might aswell start using http://tor.eff.org/ right away - Sadly, tools that allow anonymous communication have now become necessary and essential.
9/11: Never forget it was a false-flag operation
It should be noted that India is not a communist country. We are in fact the largest democracy in the world (According to population). We have a democractically (Ok i wont go into gory details about cheating during elections) elected government.
Only problem is China wasn't a democracy in the 19th century so it's not a "dictatorship of the 20h century" it's more like a dictatorship of the last 4000 years.
China has a history so different from europe that comparing it to Germany, Italy or even Russia is a bad idea.
Hang on a minute, lets drop the scitsofrenic slashdot attitute for a moment so I can get this straight. Our piracy alright, fair-use blah blah, bittorrent rulzes!!1!, but China is "teh evil". Having visited there, I can tell you that piracy isn't really anymore rampant than here in the west. The primary difference is that the legal market over there is pretty non-existent and the prices are too high for most of the populations living wage. Sure, some shops sell pirate wares, but here in Glasgow, Scotland, I have two brick and mortar shops selling pirate warzes and numerous markets all within a five mile radi of my home. Not that I'd pay money to these folks, but I'm just pointing out that they are there, and nothing is being done about them, other than token efforts from the authoritites, who frankly have more important things to deal with, like say real crime where people get hurt. One of the shops is called "the jolly rodger" and offers the "top 40 albums for £10". There is no semi-legal illusion, everyone knows the score.
I need hardly mention the millions of machines spewing spam out into the internet.
More spam comes from the US, this has been proven time and time again. Zombies are the current source of spam and frankly they don't care about our borders. Blaming one country for spam is becoming less and less relevant nowadays, and I believe this will continue.
I wonder whether the rest of the world would be for the better if China was completely segregated from the rest of the internet, with the only access through safe "portals" supervised by the government.
The mind boggles. Do you actually feel like that? The only positive imact I can see for "everyone else" is less spam according to the (incorrect) China spam problem. You'd sacrifice the web allowing the Chinease people to overthrow their dictatorship via knowledge and information, for a little less spam? Wow. You think spam is that much of a problem? Moreso than the worlds largest population being ruled by dictators?
What you speak of is called "Oligarchical Socialism". True Communism has no government and no private ownership of the means of production.
scitsofrenic => schizophrenic
Damn IM and text-messaging are rotting the kids' brains these days.
Bah!
Grumble grumble grumble.
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
Europe Internet Usage Statistics
USA Internet Usage Statistics
I think it's just as apt to say that Orwell's "1984" is what we end up withn when we see capitalism taken to it's ultimate extreme (at least the sort of "capitalism" we see in the western world today).
"1984" extreme capitialism? Uh no. Did you read "1984"? "Brave New World" maybe.