China Continues to Shut Down Video Sites

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "It's not just YouTube that's blocked in China. After the unrest in Tibet, at least 25 video sharing sites have been shut down and others have been penalized. While the Chinese government is not admitting that violence in Tibet had anything to do with it, they do have a sudden interest in strictly enforcing licensing restrictions that require video sharing websites to register with the government. Among other things, Chinese video sharing sites must promise not to show videos that inspire fear, contain pornography, or endanger national security."

Comments

National Security?

[calebt3]

I haven't seen many Youtube videos that endanger the US's national security...

universal translator: active

[v1]

inspire fear, contain pornography, or endanger national security

Lets see. inspire fear ... that'd be inspire fear in the government leaders that the people might SEE what they're really doing

or, contain pornography ... as in, see the government naked and have some of their dirty secrets exposed for all to see

and finally, endanger national security would be endanger their position of power by inciting unrest

There, that's better.

What is wrong with the IOC

[Anonymous Coward]

Haven't they learned from the 1936 and 1980 Olympics? A totalitarian government might promise the IOC that they will be more open and peaceful if they are allowed to host the Olympic Games, but they will not honor it. Perhaps this will be the first Olympic Games where the government hosting the games is massacring people while the athletes compete.

Personally, I think it is time that the Olympics are removed from the control of the IOC. The games in China should also be canceled.

Re:What is wrong with the IOC

[gzipped_tar]

I am from Beijing and I really wish the game could be canceled.

In Soviet China, the games play you. Yes it's true. I live in my college (a public one, funded by the govn't) where more than 80% of the students are from other places outside Beijing, me included. We will be forced to leave our campus before the Olympic games open, because the college's gym shall be used by the athelets as a place of training (some say they are the USA swimming team). The college has decided so, but offers no single bit of solution for our accomodation during that period. I guess most of us may have to go home --- for quite a few of us this means a long journey across the country, at a considerable cost. For those who has a job here this would mean further loss. I feel I'm being treated as an undesirable, troublesome one who is best kept clear from the city in which I have been living for three years. We are not free to travel or stay as we wish within our own country, or even within our own city.

Thanks to the Olympic games China is drawing increasingly more attentions of the world. I hope that, as a result of the pressure from both within and outside, the govn't would take some measures for us. This is hardly likely, though.

Now something on topic. Removing the Olympics from the IOC? Not likely. Canceling the games? The IOC members are very experienced in politics, and politics has nothing to do with human rights. They can't be ignorant to the massacre taking place in China, but that has nothing to do with their business. They have a perfect alibis: the IOC is not an organization for settling political affairs. We do our own business.

Recently, the Olympic firetorch is going on its tour around the world, including Lhasa, Tibet. I can hardly imagine this.

And a tip for some of you who may want to travel to China for watching the Games: you have to be prepared for the Internet experience in China which is far from yours in your home. Want to know more about a game? There's no Wikipedia. Want home news? A lot of media websites banned. Want watch video from YouTube? No way. Want to read your emails? If you've done many "undesirable " searches on Google you may have trouble accessing your gmail account, as some of my friends have noted. Slashdot? I can only hope the best. It seems that they havnt been keeping an eye on slashdot now. I guess most of the decision makers have no idea of what Slashdot is like...

Re:What is wrong with the IOC

[kvezach]

I'll tell you what's wrong with the IOC: All the committee-members in their rooms, dancing and singing...

Money, money, money
always sunny
in the rich man's world...

Re:What is wrong with the IOC

[1u3hr]

Don't get me started on Tibet. The country has basically been under Chinese rule until 1904 where the brits invaded. Tibet signed a treaty with the brits seperate from China. Then China retook the area in 1950. The country has been under chinese control currently LONGER than it had ever been apart from China.

Don't get ME started on what a load of bullshit that is.

China claimed sovereignty of Tibet, as it did for many neighbouring countries, such as Vietnam and Korea at various times. In practice, these countries may have paid tribute to Beijing, but Beijing never administered these regions. Tibet was an independent kingdom for most of the last two or three thousand years. A thousand years ago it actually controlled a large part of what is now China.

The dalai lama doesn't even want independence.

Of course he does. But he knows China would destroy Tibet rather than grant it. He's no fool. Asking for that would just give China another stick to beat him with.

China is wiping out Tibetan culture at a fast pace, the only leverage the Tibetans have is international pressure, and in the Olympic year China cannot simply ignore it as it would do normally. They have little hope of success, but this is their last chance before their country is swamped by Chinese immigration and they become fringe slum dwellers in their own land.

Re:What is wrong with the IOC

[gzipped_tar]

I'm sorry, but Olympic Games are going to be held in August, and I suppose that is during the summer holiday in almost all of the universities in China, I suppose? Do you stay in school during holidays? Hard-working..

Here in my college, many of the students stay at the campus even if it's the summer holiday. Some of them just can't afford the ticket home. We use to have choices, and now they say 'Go home. This place is not for you.' Not everyone can happily accept this.

Re:Fuck china

[Anonymous Coward]

Wouldn't carpetbombing China with dirty magazines be more ironic? Fear, pornography, and national endangerment all in one go!

long live Tor

[mwilliamson]

Run a tor node! Remove the potential for censure of information by oppressive regimes like China, Cuba and _[insert favorite oppressive country here]_ http://tor.eff.org/

Re:long live Tor

[gzipped_tar]

In Beijing, many of the TOR nodes are operated by the govn't.

It should also be noted...

[rindeee]

I posted the following info on a previous thread a few days ago, but it was long enough after the story had been posted that it got buried. Anyway, because I believe that it's significant, I will again point out that Google would seem to be coalescing to the wishes of governments such as China. Google's automated the process of blocking particular videos in particular countries via new country blocking XML tags ([media :restriction type="country" relationship="deny">CN]") that they've added in YouTube/Google Video. If you're not familiar with Google's latest (Do no evil???) addition to YouTube, see the write-up that YouTomb did on the matter. Anyway, I can think of no other reason that Google would add in such capability, but I've admittedly not devoted much time to pondering it.

Re:It should also be noted...

[hayagriva]

True, but not new. I've been in China since 2004. Every time I've clicked on a Google Video link, it hasn't been blocked by China, but it's never worked. They're very nice about it, though: "Thanks for your interest in Google Video. Currently, the playback feature of Google Video isn't available in your country. We hope to make this feature available more widely in the future, and we really appreciate your patience." Do no evil, or, if you have to, be polite about it?

Everyone Says "Fuck China"

[Skeetskeetskeet]

But the majority of you will go to Wal-Mart at some point in the next 3 days and buy goods made from China. So who's winning the war here?

Proof that rule by a few elite results in stupidty

[CrazyJim1]

China is fighting unarmed(or lightly armed) monks in clear view of the world. While they can censor their own media, everyone else sees China as a bully. The Dali-Lama is actually being given an amplified voice. I sincerely do not believe that China wants the person they're trying to repress be given a bigger soap box, but that is what is happening in reality.

Dalai Lama wants win-win situation

[microbox]

Um, ah, are you calling the Dalai Lama a lier then? Be cause he says it himself *repeatedly*.

Despite what the Chinese have done to *his* country: the rape, murder, and willful and blatant destruction of the institutions most precious to Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama does not see independence from China as possible because he recognizes a hard case when he sees it.

The Chinese constitution guarantees some sort of autonomy, and within autonomy there is no reason why the Tibetan people can not move forward and have some sort of normal existence. The Dalai Lama sees that as a win-win situation. Tibetans get to live unoppressed, and the Han Chinese can still say to themselves proudly "Look, Tibet is ours!".

So the Dalai Lama is more concerned with the livelihood of his people than reptilian territoriality. China has placed such a pathetically small value on human life, that I'm sure they struggle with that concept. Sad really.