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."

Comments

What should Google do?

[sabre86]

My initial response is that Google should just ignore the blockage -- stick by the free speech principles that they purport to support.

But it is my hope that Youtube, blogs and similar sites have a positive effect on subverting the PRC government's policies of censorship and thought control, even when censored. Wikipedia suggests that this is true, with sexual content becoming less censored around 2004. It's also clear that the Chinese populace is willing and at least somewhat to subvert such censorship, as indicated by the "Ten Mythical Creatures" meme.

So, though it galls me, perhaps Google should aim for some sort of middle of the road response to maximize the subversion of China's anti-free speech policies.

--sabre86

Re:What should Google do?

[Jurily]

My initial response is that Google should just ignore the blockage

When in Rome...

But it is my hope that Youtube, blogs and similar sites have a positive effect on subverting the PRC government's policies of censorship and thought control, even when censored.

Thought control is nonexistant. Chinese media may seem that way from the outside, but you have to understand that people are much more critical when they know it's controlled.

A seemingly irrelevant quote: "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.

In soviet ...

[houghi]

In Soviet America sites block you.

(I am glad I can't moderate myself, as I would have no idea wether this is troll, funny or insightfull. Oh well. I have way too much karma anyway.)

Re:Tiananmen Square

[u38cg]

It's called realpolitik. While I and many others would love to ostracise China until they choose to reform, let's consider what happened last time we tried it on Germany in 1919. A billion angry, resourceful, intelligent people is *not* a country I want to go to war with, no matter how many of their own people they massacre. Their own citizens are slowly starting to figure out that it's not quite right; things will change eventually.

Re:Tiananmen Square

[DNS-and-BIND]

The students were viewed as dangerous radicals, set to change China from an Iraq-style stable dictatorship into an Iraq-style civil war with a democracy wrapping on top. They were elitists who had very little support outside their own little clique. However, they were lionized and idolized by certain Westerners who found the famous photo romantic, and for no other reason.

PS the Olympic games are for sale to whoever wants to pay. I thought we settled that back when Salt Lake City got caught for bribery (it worked, too).