Slashdot Mirror
China Censoring Flickr
An anonymous reader writes "It would appear that the Chinese government is currently censoring all photos on the site Flickr. A notice has been posted in a Flickr help forum about this, but the service currently doesn't have a fix for this. It would appear that China has turned on their Golden Shield Project to censor the site. 'Jain Hua Li, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said he hadn't heard of Flickr until told about it in a conversation with a Chronicle reporter, and then suggested that the blocking may be because Chinese authorities are trying to protect children from racy images. Lucie Morillon, the U.S. representative for Reporters Without Borders, a French group that promotes free expression, said that the Beijing government often censors Web sites under the guise of protecting children or national security. She called the blocking of Flickr "one more blow against the free flow of information online by Chinese authorities" and added that it is particularly lamentable in light of promises by China to loosen restrictions before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.' Thomas Hawk has a well-considered opinion to offer on this issue."
Censorship under the guise of protecting our children or national security. Thank god that stuff only happens in China and not here in the United States...
...nevermind
Oh... er...
Web hosting that doesn't suck!Dreamhost
That area of the country, for the time period of the games, will be treated differently. It'll look great. You'll be able to sit in your hotel room and view all the stuff you want. (pro-Tibetian Falon Gong porn, whatever...)
The rest of the country? No.
A month later? No.
BTW, don't check your business email or log in to the corporate VPN from China. You know the story: "all your trade secrets are blong to us".
... Don't watch the Olympics. Let the media carrying the Olympics know that you're boycotting them, and will try to get others to join the cause vs. Chinese censorship. Try to avoid purchasing goods made in China, or from companies with close relationships with China. Otherwise, they'll continue to do what they want with all the money the West sends them...
Not only have US leaders thought of this, but they've already tried putting it into practice. Does no one remember the Communications Decency Act which passed into law and was eventually shot down by the Supreme Court? Every couple of years there's something new that they want to ban from adults due to "for the children" arguments.
How much longer will we ( the world ) continue to ignore their own moral issues with China in return for cheap goods? A long long long time.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
An amendment to CDA banned all discussion of abortion on the Internet. Remember that they first came for the Communists because everybody hated Communists. Hopefully somebody will speak up when they come for you.
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
Exactly. The individual Chinese have every right to live however they want, until they try to force their preferences onto others, or make threats against them. If some (or all) of them don't want to be censored, they have every right not to be.
"The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat