85% of Chinese Citizens Like Internet Censorship

cynagh0st writes "A Pew Internet & American Life Project report indicates that of an overwhelming majority of Chinese people that believed the Internet should be 'managed or controlled,' 85% want the government to do this managing. This is resulting from surveys on Internet use over the last seven years in China. 'The survey findings discussed here, drawn from a broad-based sample of urban Chinese Internet users and non-users alike, indicate a degree of comfort and even approval of the notion that the government authorities should control and manage the content available on the Internet.' The report goes further into describing the divide in perspective between China and Western Nations on the matter and discusses the PRC's justifications for Internet control."

Comments

the other 15%

[prgrmr]

are in jail

Re:the other 15%

[snl2587]

85% of Chinese Likes Censorship

That's not what they were asked because the Chinese government did not approve of the question. They were asked if they approved of government control. The two are very different, especially in a socialist state where the government controls everything.

Re:the other 15%

[Scrameustache]

They were asked if they approved of government control. The summary says they were asked if they liked control, and if they did, if they preferred it were done by the government.

That is kinda like asking Americans if they think terrorism should be fought, and if so should it be done by the US DoD.
It's a loaded question designed to get a specific answer from a select group.

If you gave the same survey in the US or UK...

[thatseattleguy]

...or another ostensible democracy, and asked the same question, I wonder what percentage would say "yes" here as well?

I think it might me much higher than most Slashdotters would believe.

It isn't skewed voting... its skewed teaching.

[PC and Sony Fanboy]

When people are raised in a certain way, they think a certain way. Often, children in abusive households become abusive themselves...

so... what about children raised in a red china communism 'I love the government' household? ...

To add to that problem, how can 85% of chinese vote for an option they've never experienced - if they are living 'well' enough, by their standards, and don't know differently, then why would they change?

Hmm,

[kabocox]

I'd go as far to say that 99.99% of humanity thinks that censorship is a good thing as long as they get to pick what is censored from the rest.

Everyone wants the government to be their censorship tool. The government will happily censor stuff. It's just various groups want different things censored and want to be allowed to view their chosen content.

Its not always where you live

[Shivetya]

it also is the question your asked and who asks it.

Take voting in the DNC primary, by all accounts and polls one candidate should be getting even more votes than they are getting yet once behind the privacy of the voting booth they don't get them.

Some questions make people uncomfortable whether their freedom is in jeopardy or not. It is also instinctive in some people to give the answer that they believe the questioner wants regardless if its a true one.

While I do agree China is a special case I have seen friends answer complete strangers in what I knew wasn't what they believed but instead what they wanted the questioner to believe.

I do not believe polls from communist countries

[kyknos.org]

I live in a post-communist country and I remember the communism very well. Most people in the Czech Republic, before the fall of communism, would probably answer "yes, we agree with the goverment" in any poll, regardless of the question, if they just weren't absolutely sure that the authorities wouldn't know their answer. Because free expression of opinion, in such a country, may mean anything from financial loss to death.

A simple solution... Test question, maybe?

[L4t3r4lu5]

Question 1. Do you believe that there should be a way for Law Enforcement officials to identify those on the internet who engage in illegal activities, for the sake of protecting the naive or easily prayed upon?

Question 2. Do you want us to have the power to know what you buy online, what your daughter looks like in a bikini, and read the email you sent to your working-away-from-home husband (Paul) with that photo of you(?) in the black and scarlet red corset (and not much else)?

If you answered differently to both of those questions, your opinion is not valid for this survey.

Unless they are older than 65...

[Tavor]

Unless the Chinese asked were older than 65, they are unlikely to even know what it's like without government "control". It's akin to asking a wild mustang if he likes horseshoes.

Re:Unless they are older than 65...

[mog007]

There is no such thing as a "free-speech zone". Public schools are not free-speech zones, but neither are libraries, or the steps outside the Capitol building in the District of Columbia. If you're on government controlled property, you are free to say whatever the fuck you want, and nobody else has any authority to make you stop. They can bitch about it until they're blue in the face, much like I can say whatever I wish, but they can't stop me from offending them anymore than I can stop them from offending me for attempt to suppress my rights.

Since only Congress may pass laws which have any influence, and since Congress is forbidden to stifle free speech according to the First Amendment, the government has no authority in limiting what a person says. Just remember the old adage "actions speak louder than words" and you'll realize that stifling free speech is only a method of controlling how a person thinks. I think the idea of murder is quite undesirable, but I should be free to talk about the mass slaughter of lawyers all I want.

Re:BAD MOD (insightful)

[voice_of_all_reason]

They are being sent there because they were allegedly captured as illegal combatants and/or provided support to a terrorist orginization

FTFY. Everyone in Gitmo is an innocent man according to our laws.