Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

UN Officials Remove Poster Mentioning Chinese Firewall

Posted by kdawson on from the can-you-spell-hypocricy dept.

At a UN-sponsored Internet Governance Forum in Egypt, anti-censorship group Open Net Initiative was startled by a demand from UN officials to remove a poster mentioning Chinese Net censorship. When ONI refused the request, security personnel arrived and took away the poster. The group was promoting a new book, Access Controlled, a survey of Internet censorship, filtering, and online surveillance. A witness said, "The poster was thrown on the floor and we were told to remove it because of the reference to China and Tibet. We refused, and security guards came and removed it. The incident was witnessed by many." Here is a video of the removal.

4 of 409 comments (clear)

  1. was witnessed by many by nurb432 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Prove it.

    No, i wasn't kidding. One of the dangers of having governmental entities in control of information, and most of it being recorded only digitally: "facts" are a variable commodity.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  2. Re:It's good to be owed money! by 0123456 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yep! Now who's the Super Power, again?

    The US government prints pieces of paper which Americans send to China. The Chinese make actual useful stuff and send it to America in return. Americans end up with a pile of useful stuff, Chinese end up with a pile of pieces of paper.

    Who's getting the worst of the deal here?

  3. Re:U.N. and Human Rights... by Jeremy+Erwin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sure. The "true" Chinese government is based in Tapei, and they don't have a UN presence.

  4. Re:Censorship depends on the country. by stephanruby · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In Germany and France, freedom of speech is a basic human right. Anyone -- citizen and non-citizen -- in Germany and France is entitled to freedom of speech.

    Are you freaking kidding me? In France, you can't even wear a small catholic cross around your neck to a public school, unless it's well hidden under your shirt. And in both France and Germany, books like "Mein Kampf" and so-called nazi paraphernalia are banned (not that this does any good mind you, it only makes the extreme right feel more victimized and it drove that kind of market for that stuff underground).

    And in France at least, there is an unspoken understanding between the press and the government. You don't say anything to embarrass government officials, and you get to keep your job. In France, the government has so much influence over every area of life, it make life very difficult if any of its citizen gets out of line. By the way, I know this because I'm French, I was born in France, and I've lived part of my life in France.