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Anticipated Closure of BitTorrent Sites Spurs Panic Downloads In China
hackingbear writes "Beijing Internet users are scrabbling for downloads from BitTorrent websites following speculation that authorities will shut them down as early as this week. Internet experts told China Daily the failure might be caused by an overload of users seeking last-minute free downloads. As the largest BT download website in China with 5 million downloads each year, VeryCD has been on the verge of closure after the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) shut hundreds of similar peer-to-peer file sharing sites, including the 50 million-user BTChina, during the last 10 days in its latest attempt to fight pornography and piracy online."
The difference here is not the medium: the difference is OUR content versus THEIR content. They have no problem letting their citizens pirate OUR content, even resell it, but when it's THEIR music in which some CHINESE company holds IP interest, well... that's a whole other story!
Once the bittorrent trackers in China are down, I'm sure the professional counterfeiters will appreciate the boost in business as everyone heads to the streets for their warez. For the first time, the pirates and the **AA both benefit from the same political action!
Actually according to Chinese media this crack focuses on eradicating pornography. Now, it's true you can get any DVD in China including 'subversive' movie (like '7 years' with Brad Pitt) , but they simply don't sell porn in those shops, it's a line they never crossed. Chinese people get their porn from the internet, mostly through torrents. As for the "china does nothing" part. I think you need to understand just how poor China is. Despite media hype - this is an extremely poor country with tons of problems and the undermanned underpaid police has much more important stuff to deal with than people copying DVds
All sex is best when it involves a little bit of a chase, imo.
You mean like solving a CAPTCHA?
Stand in the main hall of the Shanghai train station at 9 PM at night before the last trains are leaving (or really any time). The first thing that will pop in to the minds of most westerners, "why is the police not controlling this riot"?
That is just how China is with that many people. It is rather amazing given the population of China there are not more brutal crack downs in China.
I am not apologizing for the crimes of the Chinese government party, but the western media and politicians often fail to distinguish what it takes to keep order in a country that large and that poor on the one had, and real political and human rights oppression on the other. No country on Earth has ever had to face the problems that China is facing, because no country on Earth has ever been that populated.
Luckily the Chinese government does seem to be getting more sophisticated about it (e.g. cutting off porn sites vs. executing someone for looking at porn), and also seems to be (little by little) starting to realize not everything regarding personal freedom is a direct threat to the state or public order. In fact, the shear white noise of free speech can be a very effective way of drowning out descent. Just look at the United States. It is the tower of digital babel.
Living in Chile