Self-Censoring 'Chinese Wikipedia' Launched

Billosaur writes "New Scientist is reporting that Baidu, China's largest search engine, is launching its own version of Wikipedia. The site, Baidupedia, differs from the more well-known Wikipedia in that it is self-censoring." From the article: "Unlike Wikipedia, which allows anyone to create and modify entries, Baidupedia is censored by the company to avoid offending the Chinese government. Entries to the encyclopaedia must first pass a filtering system before being added to the site. Baidupedia bars users from including any 'malicious evaluation of the current national system', any 'attack on government institutions', and prevents the 'promotion of a dispirited or negative view of life'."

Comments

Re:Censorship rights

[Internet Ronin]

What in the name of HELL are you talking about???

1.) As a previous poster noted, Chinese citizens are DENIED access to Wikipedia, hence the need for the service.
2.) Look at the content of censorship they are talking about and ask yourself, seriously, if that goes on at slashdot. Does slashdot pull it's punches to avoid critical remarks about the Bush Administration? NO!
3.) Anyone censoring POLITICAL SPEECH is in violation of what the United States Supreme Court considers the MOST SACRED of ALL forms of expression.
4.) Of course you can say "Just don't use it... nah nah nah" but then that throws the baby out with the bathwater. Even extreme Marxists didn't want the industry to go away, they just wanted it to harmonize with the people. So too, can the internet.

I mean, do you just not care? That it's okay that people in that country have no recourse to politically criticize their government? Is that alright with you? Is that alright with all the effing slashdotters that post here? Jesus, I'm spent. I hate articles about China, because quite frankly no one here seems to admit that they don't know what they're talking about.

So what?

[Grendel Drago]

but if we lived in an anarcho-capitalist society, which some people would consider a lot more free, we very likely would have them.

And if I had a magic bottle of pixie dust, I'd grow me some glowing green antlers. What's your point?

To recap: you claim that America has censorship just like China has censorship. I point out that what you call "censorship" in America consists of private bodies deciding whether or not to publish, and that they can be easily circumvented by self-publishing on the internet, something that real censorship (see China) does not allow for. You retort with "but if we had censorship like China does, then we'd have censorship like China does!"

What exactly do you want? Do you want CBS to be forced to publish every "lol jews did 911" twit who thinks they have story? Do you want the RIAA to publish every teenager's abortive basement band? There are limited resources to do so. The Internet removes these limits, which is why every fool has a livejournal and a myspace. If nobody cares about what you have to say, that's your problem. You're free to speak, but nobody's obliged to listen.