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China Does U-Turn, Lifts Ban On Websites

Posted by kdawson on from the by-some-definitions-of-complete dept.

krou sends in a Guardian (UK) article reporting that overnight talks with the International Olympic Committee have resulted in the Chinese government lifting a ban on websites such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the BBC Chinese language service "in Beijing, Shanghai and possibly further afield." Websites with information on the Falun Gong, Chinese dissidents, the Tibetan government in exile, and the 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests are still inaccessible. (We've been discussing Chinese Olympic censorship right along.) Quoting: "A spokesman for Amnesty International said: 'It's good news that our site has been unblocked in Olympic venues and perhaps elsewhere in Beijing, but it is still a long way from the "complete media freedom" promised. It seems public outrage has succeeded where the IOC's "quiet diplomacy" had failed.' Chinese engineers quoted in an article in the Atlantic Monthly said they had been told to prepare to unblock access for a list of specific internet protocol addresses to used by foreign visitors. But Andrew Lih, a new media author in Beijing, said it seemed the authorities might have simply decided it was easier to lift blocks for everyone. 'It's possible [to block individual locations] but would be very complicated,' he said."

5 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. U-Turn? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's no U-turn. At best, it's a hard left.

  2. What better way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What better way to nail subversives ?

    Let them convict themselves by allowing that whicvh is is deemed illegal in China ?
    The Historical approach..

  3. More Accurately by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    China Does U-Turn, Lifts Ban On Certain Websites

    Title is way too optimistic.

  4. Tempest in a teapot by mu11ing1t0ver · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm surprised none of the stories about this mention how easy it is to VPN out of China and thus bypass any blocks they throw up.

  5. Can everybody swallow the blue pill? by jopsen · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm surprised none of the stories about this mention how easy it is to VPN out of China and thus bypass any blocks they throw up.

    The problem is that ordinary citizens in China doesn't know what happen on Tiananmen Square in 1989. Do you seriously expect the average Chinese citizen to be able to get VPN out og China, and risk his/her life/career on it because the sites are illegal.