Slashdot Mirror
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'."
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.