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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'"
Well, at least our friendly Bush administration has something in common with Communist China:
c le/2005/09/19/AR2005091901570.html
_ terror.html?breadcrumb=default
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti
Now who knows what other similiarities they have? Perhaps we'll find out that they actually torture prisoners in secret locations to fight the war on terror, similiar as China tortures a diverse range of seperatists for their own "war on terror":
http://www.cfr.org/publication/4765/chinas_war_on
Nothing to see here, move along people!
It should be noted that in China the word "democracy" is considered pornographic
I'm sorry for the Chinese, I think the pornographers are going to kick their ass.
I wouldn't get cross about this misnomenclature except that there have been a very few real attempts at Communist government, notably in India, and they shouldn't be dirtied by association. Let's be clear - if the Chinese people eventually overthrow or modernise their government, it will be the end of the process of the rise and collapse of large scale dictatorships in the 20th Century.
Pining for the fjords
Comment removed based on user account deletion
LOL,
Stop the Porn!! They say, and hey while you're at it - block any phrases that contain the terms "China and Human Rights".
> Why would you put war on terror in quotes as if there isn't one?
He probably wonders why we're shooting people in Iraq while Osama Bin Laden vacations in Pakistan.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Did I miss anything?
This post expresses my opinion, not that of my employer. And yes, IAAL.
.. as substantial privatisation has happened over the last few years. They are still oppressive though.
It does not seem like being oppressive is the problem the US or the EU has with communist states though, as they are conducting extensive business with China these days.
An oppressive facist police state is perfectly ok, as long as there are possibilities for making money from them. This makes a mockery of the argument that the US invaded Iraq to free the people from oppression.
They're thugs. We knew this.
Mao's body count is around 77 million dead.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
It WAS communist, but due to trade with other countries, capitalism has become a dominant part of their economy. It's just not a democracy or republic. Technically, China is a "Capitalist Dictatorship."
As an aside, it seems that people want to blindly attach communism all the time. Yes, communism is bad, but to just blanketly poopoo it is stupid. The truth is that communism is one of the fastest ways to bring a country from total anarchy and poverty to a functioning economy. The problem is that Marxist socialism and communism don't dissolve into democracy like the ideaists said it would. Instead, the people in power don't want to let go of their power, and it becomes a totalitarian, oppressive dictatorship. China's transition to a capitalist dictatorship is probably less disruptive to the people and economy than the sudden switch from communist dictatorship to capitalist democracy in the former USSR. Yes, China's government really sucks and they need a revolution, but this needs to be considered objectively. Sudden revolution could be disasterous locally to China and globally. And things like this usually get worse before they get better.
Cracking down of pornography, wiretapping its own citizens' communications without a warrant.
Wait a minute! Where have I heard the same thing recently?
Wow. You really do not understand what rights mean. Rights are independent of government and legislation. You have the right to freedom of speech, and no government can take that from you. The government can use coercion to stop you from using that right, but you still have it. That others (including government) don't respect your rights is not equal to your not having them. Indeed, others cannot violate your rights if you don't them. In short: the US supreme court has no right to decide which rights you have, neither has any other government agency. Your rights are the right to your own body and all rights which follow as consequences of this. That is, all rights can be derived from self-ownership.
China apologists always seem to float the transgressions of other countries rather than trying to refute the fact that the PRC government is evil. They do this because the PRC government is indefensible. The post I am responding to is a perfect example of this.
So, h4rm0ny, why can't I be for justice everywhere? In the PRC and in the United States if the USA government is also disrespecting human rights? Are you for absolute right and wrong or is politics a team sport for you?
Far be it from me to stop a self-satisfied rant from completely mischaracterizing the political views of tens of millions of people, but are you talking about Western leftists like Amnesty Interational? Or maybe you mean Human Rights Watch. Hmm, no, that's not it. Well, please provide examples, since you're obviously quite certain.
Ignore the possibility, of course, that you're living in a Western country, and thus are more likely to hear about protests directed at your own government. Or that China is successfully covering up some percentage of its internal discord, so you're never hearing about it. Or that China has been crushing its citizens for decades, while the West's adventures in fabrication-based nation building are more recent, and thus more likely to garner comment. Or that Western countries have more of a tradition of listening to their citizens, and thus the citizens are more likely to speak out about their own governments' policies with the expectation that it might actually do some good.
Concentrating effort where it's most likely to have an effect is clearly way too abstract a concept for wacko yogurt-eating Birkenstock-shod lefty nutjobs, so it must just mean they're hypocrites with no sense of proportion.
I'm happy to see the massive Chiinese distributors shut down, but not because they sell porn. It's because they spam relentlessly. I'd be delighted to see clear laws in China and elsewhere forbidding that, and those laws enforced.
If they didn't spam so relentlessly, what people do on their own time with their own bandwidth would be vastly less bothersome to the rest of us. As it is, if I turn spam filters off, I get roughly one-in-five of my email messages as sexual spam. And a bunch of those try their best to auto-pop-up websites that refuse to allow the page to close, leading to some embarassing moments at work and forcing me to shut down my browser entirely and losing work.
Perhaps in your "bought and paid for" journalism, but believe me, Gitmo has been in the news quite a bit lately. Last week it was the second-running story on BBC video news broadcasts.
Most were centred around this topic:
UN concern at Guantanamo feeding
Just because your propaganda (your presidents words, not mine) doesn't mention things that are going on, it doesn't mean that it's not.
You people are incapable of a sense of proportion, aren't you?
No, it is you who is incapabe of being objective. I really could not give a fuck about what China is doing, I can't do anything about that. However, when my OWN government is party to this sort of behaviour, you are fucking right I'm going to say something about it.
The US's attitude these days seems to be "well, China is worse, so what's your problem?". Discussions of Gitmo have no relevance to China in any way whatsoever, and bringing it up only makes you look bad. If you go around invading countries under a banner of rightousness, then you really should expect to have that facaide ripped down when it becomes apparent that it's all a lie.
You might be able to sleep at night believeing that they are all "evildoers", but I really suggest some reading on how many of these people got arrested. Some were named during torture. Some were named because of local feuding in Afganistan. Don't like the Montagues? Tell the CIA they are dodgy!! Some were named for profit; the US paid rewards for "information". And MANY are now being released as they are being found to be completely innocent.
You are torturing innocent people. You lost the righteous battle a long time ago.
Or did a Holocaust denier just get modded (5, Informative)?
Don't get me wrong, I would jail the guy for thinking or saying this, but I wouldn't mod him up either.
(referring to parent post)
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
why bother moving all the way to china? Try Canada. here in Ontario, there is a statutory requirement that *every* "adult sex film" in distribution be reviewed by a screening panel of the Ontario Film Review Board.
In actuality the setup is used as a cash cow for the government -- in order to get a film distributed, you have to pay a fee for them to review it and approve it for distribution. It's kind of ridiculous.
Joking aside, it turns out that the job is quite mind numbing. the panel members basically sit in a room all day long watching porn on fast forward with the audio muted. they only slow it if they think something verboten (e.g. beastiality, child porn etc) is onscreen.
Watching porn at your leisure is one thing. But *having* to do so as your job? And you don't just get to watch the stuff you enjoy. You are trapped there watching *all* the bad porn that is being made. Umm, no thanks.
The only real difference is what we are willing to accept as harmful porn or as detrimental to society. In America, many states still have laws on the books that prohibit co-habitation and/or gays. We also crack down on sites that we regard as illegal. A good example is child porn. Of course, most states define child porn as below 18 YO. But in other countries (and cultures and times), a child would be defined as below 12 (or possibly when a women starts menstruation or a boy grows hair). We have a loser definition than china, but a more stringent one than others. As to civil liberties, well, your seem to forget the more than 5 americans (we really do not know how many are there) who are being held in Gitmo, as well as the NSA spying. BTW, if you wish to state the spying is only those that talk to terrorists, well, I say that you need to prove that. Just 6 months the far right was arguing that warrents were used and that no harm would come from PATRIOT act, etc.
And as to intimidation, well, we all know that America gov. never intimidates anybody. No? We never hold people in prison without cause. We never hold people overseas without charges. And we never object when bad things are found out about the current gov.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Go to a concert hall, stand up, and try to explain to everyone how warped their perception of music is, and you will get thrown out. Go to an alcoholics anonymous meeting and tell them all how warped their view of alcoholic beverages are, and you will get thrown out. Go to a meeting of a political party and be so kind as to explain in insulting terms what utter morons they are for not subscribing to the competing party, and you will get thrown out.
And yes, if you go to a church and try to tell everyone what they believe is ridiculous, and you will get thrown out.
But what's your point?
China stopped being communist when switched from a planned/command economy to a free market system. But they made sure to keep the authoritarian regime in place.
Back in the 1930s and 1940s, they called that fascism. I guess when the pots occupy the media and government infrastructure, they are unwilling to call kettles black.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
Fascism and Communism dash off in opposite directions. But they arrive in the same place. A feudalistic political/economic system where there is no distinction between governance and commerce.
So yes, when the international corporations BECOME the defacto government (by undermining political systems) than they effectively become the state and they will equally fit the "1984" paradigm.
BTW, just remember that China plays the same games as Big Brother (as does GW Bush). They are always stoking the people up about some external or social issue to keep them from thinking and acting critically against the states. A couple of months ago, it was Japan. In this case, it is pornography.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
IF Dialectical Materialism is any measure of adherence to the Communist Manifesto, the USA is the most successful Communist country in the world.
Beginning with the Marshal Plan following WWII, the USA has given away more money and aid than all the other contries of the world combined. Japan and Western Europe were rebuilt by American generosity, and it was well into the 70's before they could begin altrustic donations, and then only because we bought their Volkswagons instead of Detroit's junk.
And now, 50 years later, we are shipping our manufacturing overseas, lowering our standard of living while raising the standard of living of every country that is now manufacturing the goods we once built but now buy at Walmart. China has been the biggest beneficiary.
And, manufacturing wasn't enough. Now we are sending our jobs over seas too.
But, NAFTA and OUT SOURCING aren't altruistic examples. They actually represent the greed of management and the stockholders, who don't understand that they are killing the Goose that laid the Golden eggs.
The fact that both political parties are doing their best to destroy those parts of the Constituion that they don't like, it won't be long before freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, or free speech or association will mean no more in the USA than it does in China.
Running with Linux for over 20 years!
True communism is a magical world where everyone works together for the common good without any personal motivation, or coordinating mechanism. It is based on the denial basic truths about human beings, and the world we live in. Any rational, thinking person should realize that such a mode of social organization and economic distribution is unrealistic and impossible.
At the very most, it's erotica - if we consider it to be an example of an ideal married relationship, rather than a metaphor for the relationship between Christ and the church (which is stretching it a bit, methinks).
A discussion of women's breasts as tasty fruit is tasteful (if you'll forgive the pun). But how is talking about the female form, even genitalia, considered to be pornographic? The purpose of porn is sexual titilation. The Bible is mostly story-driven, and its purpose is to teach and to inform; most of the stories themselves are there because they give us illustrations of fellow humans who have failed miserably or succeeded magnificently.
If you think the Bible is porn, wait until you see this anatomy textbook I've got! Talk about your playmate of the month!
Condemnant quod non intellegunt.