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China Blocks YouTube, Again
cryfreedomlove brings news that YouTube has once again been blocked in China. The Google-owned video site was censored in China last year because of videos about the protests in Tibet, and that may be the impetus behind this latest restriction. According to a New York Times report,
"'The instant speculation is that YouTube is being blocked because the Tibetan government in exile released a particular video,' said Xiao Qiang, adjunct professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley... Mr. Xiao said that the blocking of YouTube fit with what appeared to be an effort by China to step up its censorship of the Internet in recent months. Mr. Xiao said he was not surprised that YouTube was a target. It also hosts videos about the Tiananmen Square protests and many other subjects that Chinese authorities find objectionable."
I'll alert the presses!!!!!
I can't believe this isn't talked about more. I can't believe it didn't come up before they decided to let them host the Olympics.
You guys know they put a bunch of farm boys into tanks and had them roll into Tiananmen Square and start shooting students, right? Shooting from their tanks onto balconies.
What do you think happened to that guy standing in front of the tank (you know the picture)? You think he's still alive? Can you imagine the courage it took to do that?
And the world rewarded these murderers with the Olympic Games.
Okay, seriously; They've invested tens (if not hundreds) of millions of dollars into a national infrastructure informally known as the "Great Firewall of China". And yet they block sites wholesale rather than by keyword, URL, or a dozen other possibilities? If they're trying to keep this as transparent to the population as possible, why constantly block and unblock popular sites? It just compels people to ask the question "Why do they keep blocking/unblocking this site?" And the answer is only a google query away.
I'm not arguing for or against censorship here, I'm merely pointing out that it's difficult to imagine that they lack the most basic capabilities of censorship software that is sold commercially and globally elsewhere, and that it is not technically challenging to impliment those features. Why spend millions on an infrastructure item that lacks even the most basic features needed for its intended use?
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
A seemingly irrelevant quote [wikipedia.org]: "Strangely enough, Hungarians living outside of Hungary - especially those living overseas - never really understood Hofi's message. This wasn't because of a language barrier: it was a consequence of drastically different experiences regarding certain historical events."
He became a legend not because he was critical, but because he said what everyone in the country was thinking anyway.
Every crazy leader you've ever heard of was like that. We get more and more dissatisfied with living under the system we're in, until one day, some madman who doesn't care about political correctness stands up and says "We're all thinking the same way, lets get those motherfuckers!", and everyone follows them because they were the sanest person who was willing to lead them against their enemies.
It has to be a madman, because they're the outsiders. The insiders are paralyzed into indecisiveness by what they stand to lose, and are crippled by their tendency to use traditional methods to achieve their goals, which is a liability when you're trying to create a fresh new system.
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
I guess the YouTube posters got all cocky when "The River Crab Wears Two Watches" and "Grass Mud Horse" didn't get it blocked...
This is an unfortunate development. For a bit there, it looked like China might be going more open, but I guess the infantilization of their people is more important. :-/
but have you considered the following argument: shut up.
I guess people in China has already get used to censorship, when they can't access something, they won't get curious and then just go do something else.
You might said that no one would do that, but remember the cultural differences, Chinese People has had censorship for thousands of years. Back then, if your name has the same word as the emperor, you are doomed, your head will get cut off if you insult the emperor etc...
Yes, now the youth with influence from the west might do different, but it will take a long time for Chinese to be aware of what is really going on.
PS: I don't live in China, but in its neighbor country which has the same problem.
Turkey (don't mention the "genocide" against Armenians
Killing hundreds of thousands of people deserve a bit more than quotation marks, don't you think?
Germany (no holocaust denial)
Which is fucked up itself. Any historical truth is only worth as much as it is allowed to research. Jailing people for asking "has that really happened?" is not freedom of speech.
Lying about a massacre of that degree should or should not be a crime, depending on your political views, but researching it? And if I find something contrary to the "truth" set in law, am I a criminal for saying it? Does even a historian not have the right to his own opinion anymore?
I don't deny the Holocaust, but there's a certain amount of doubt in me against any fact you have to protect by force of law. That's Thought Police, even if what they're defending is true.
heh.. Spanish is taught a lot in the US... how many teenagers do you see using Spanish websites?
Ignorance and apathy are the two most dangerous diseases of our time, and very difficult to cure.
~ awaiting spiritual enlightenment ~