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China Bans Running Your Own Email Server
Erwin_D writes "Under the guise of banning spam, China has ruled that running your own e-mail server has been banned, unless you have a license. To qualify for such a license, an 'e-mail service provider' must abide by some chilling rules: all e-mail must be stored for two months, and e-mail with discussing vaguely defined subject as network security or information security may not be transmitted. While the rules contains all the good measures we would all like to see to combat spam, such as prohibiting open relays and outlawing zombie network, the law is also geared toward controlling free speech. From the article: 'I believe that the intent to have an antispam regulation was a good one ... Unfortunately, it seems like during the policy formulation process, it got hijacked and went to one extreme.'"
From the article
"China's new rules also prohibit use of email to discuss certain vaguely defined subjects related to 'network security' and ' information security', "
From the regulation that the article links to
taking advantage of emails to engage in activities which are detrimental to network and information security is strictly prohibited in accordance with related laws.
There is a big difference between "engaging in activities that are detrimental to information security" and "discussing information security"
But with a title like "China Outlaws Outlook" are you really surprised that they are sensationalizing it.
SecurityPub.com
That China is a sovereign country with its own set of rules & customs. It has the right to determine it's own destiny without need of approval from the West.
There was a really excellent episode of frontline that aired this week that covered that very topic. Anyone over the age of 20 or so surely remembers the guy who stopped the tank in Tienamen Square. Of course if you google for "Tienamen Square" in China you get no images of Tank Man. In the rest of the world you get multiple images.
AccountKiller
1/12th may not seem much, but don't underestimate word-of-mouth! You don't see this on mainstream media, but I've read somewhere that there were about 87,000 (yes, eighty-seven thousand) demonstrations against the communist government in China last year. And a poll revealed that China is the country where the most people believe in free enterprise.
Circumcision is child abuse.
> all e-mail must be stored for two months
except here it is part of an "anti-terrorism" law package.
Actually you are espousing one of the most common misconceptions about the first Amendment. It protects free speech in a PUBLIC FORUM. My email is in no way shape or form public.
It travels from a privately owned computer, over privately owned wire to my privately owned ISP which I then download from onto my privately owned computer. Where exactly does the email ever enter a public forum hence making it protected?
People can easily see my address from the street... does this give them the right to drop their trash on my lawn? No, they would be subject to a fine for littering. Even if it is a flier of some sort, espousing a political opinion, they will still be fined for littering. Same should apply to spammers.
Along those lines, does anybody know if there are public proxy servers in China that allow people in the rest of the world to see what the internet is like behind the great firewall?
Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
Africus aut Europaeus?
Just FYI, here is how China handles eminent domain
Support the FairTax
I think what happened at Tiananman Square was a tragedy, but now imagine what would happen if you were to stop a US tank.. Even cops could shoot you if you didn't "freeze" right away.
Well, I guess I'm not so jaded yet that I think the US military would actually run over a single unarmed man after all the craziness had mostly died down.
I'd say that tank man was a troll while the camera man was just waiting to catch the pictures.
That's really hard to believe. The camera man was a western journalist filming inside his hotel room many blocks away. Tank man had no way of knowing he was being filmed. There was certainly no setup ahead of time.
The fact that he actually STOPPED the tank meant something.
Absolutely. And that's the same thing that people around the world saw from the picture and video as well. It's an extremely iconic picture to have one unarmed average joe stop a tank. It's literally one man against the state.
AccountKiller
Marx was the single most influential economists of all times. He is the most widely read economist. His theories have penetrated just about all aspects of modern business.
... then they went bankrupt.
The primary theme of Das Kapital was the various ways in which the market undermines itself. A large number of business books have picked up on this theme and essentially teach business leaders that their goal is to undermine the market (or bust). In the dotcom market, you saw a large number of dotbombs play this game. To dominate the market, they sold goods at below cost
I loved MP3.com. This company had a great product for distributing music from independent musicians. They were even starting to attract big time musicians. The wanks in charge of the company decided that they had to dominate the music industry or perish. MP3.com bet the company on an idiotic "beam up" program that clearly violated copyrights of other publishers. The company was given a choice between turning off the program, or paying a $200m fine.
Having been taught to dominate or die in business schools. MP3.com chose "to die".
The primary theme of Marx's writings is the various ways that business undermines itself. When adapted to business schools, these writings become a recipe book on ways to undermine the market. Marxist thinking leads immediately to a Machiavellian market where business leaders spend their days trying to find ways to undercut their competition, their customers and employees.
Das Kapital is not about they way that you structure a utopian society. The book is about the various ways businesses tend to undermine their market and their community.
I am not saying that business leaders are Marxists, but that Marx has had a negative influence on the way we view business.