Slashdot Mirror
Creator of China's Great Firewall Pelted With Shoes
Hugh Pickens writes "The Guardian reports that Chinese police are seeking a man who said he threw eggs and shoes at the architect of China's 'great firewall', the world's most sophisticated and extensive online censorship system as his claims were cheered by many internet users, in a reflection of growing anger among them about increasingly stringent controls. The office of Fang Binxing, known as the father of the great firewall, denied the attack had happened, but Associated Press said police were sent to the university to investigate a shoe-throwing incident targeting Fang, citing an officer at the Luojiashan public security bureau. The Twitter user who claimed to have pelted him, who posts under the pseudonym @hanunyi, wrote: 'The egg missed the target. The first shoe hit the target. The second shoe was blocked by a man and a woman.' Earlier this year Fang closed a microblog within days of opening it after thousands of Chinese internet users left comments, almost all of them deriding him as 'a running dog for the government' and 'the enemy of netizens'. Meanwhile admirers of the shoe attacker showered the anonymous young man with promises of everything from Nike trainers to replace his lost footwear, to iPads, sex and jobs."
At least the Chinese do something about it. Unlike Americans who sit down watching tv and drinking beer and bitching on slashdot (and never doing anything about it) while their government not only censors their internet connections, but the whole worlds.
This is why Americans are so fucking hypocrites. Do whatever you want on your own land, but leave rest of the world alone. We don't want your bullshit around here in Europe, and the rest of the world.
While I applaud the spirit of the shoe thrower, his target got off far too lightly. Some people really just need to trip and hit their head on a bullet.
...why not do the same to the people who have been restricting all their other freedoms, too?
worldmobilenet.com -- World Prepaid Wireless Internet plans
The administrator's defense: The university could not access twitter from behind the firewall!
Hey mate, spare a sig?
We have your best interests at heart, since you are unable to think for or defend yourselves. We love you and are protecting you... from yourself. And those that might would want to do you harm, like yourself.
It isn't about us, it's about you. Without you, we'd be nothing, and then what would we do? So we just make it impossible as much as we can to have a free, err we mean wrong thought.
Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.
should have thrown knives...
"People don't want to learn linux" hasn't been a valid excuse since '03.
He seems to be doing fine so far
By the way, the subject line should not be the exact same thing as the comment. Maybe elaborate a little in the comment, and or trim down the subject line.
All big governments (no exception) are always tempted to "protect the citizens against the bad influences", one way or another. How we're doing on the home front? Not so good, I guess.
This is great. I have no problem with the citizens of China (I actually have a particular fondness for Eastern philosophy and the martial arts like wushu) but I have MANY issues with their government. Any aggression they can show against their suppressors is a good thing in my book, violent or otherwise. Sometimes peaceful protest just _doesn't work_. Gandhi would've "dissappeared" in modern China. Be pissed China! Go overthrow your government one shoe at a time until they can't possibly cover the information/press from the revolt! Only when the idea of liberty spreads that it can manifest into a powerful force against its enemies.
The Guardian and others are in a tough spot, as print journals have less and less income and are trying to cover bigger and bigger stories (like... China). While the event posted here may or may not have happened, a blogger I read regularly, Adam Minter (www.shanghaiscrap.com) has made mincemeat of almost every such story I've read in the western media during the past two years (latest case, that China censored Bob Dylan's concert there - apparently not, but the story was reprinted extensively). I've travelled a lot in China, often with officials, and would say that most Chinese government officials are as far from the source of censorship itch as we are here on /. I don't know if the answer is for the West to stop reporting on "twitter posts" by people who claim to have "thrown shoes" at "firewalls", and I personally know the Chinese government "command and control" is awful and stupid and a painful thing to watch... Still, having read dozens of these stories, I think we need to expose that (a) the Western Press often does not know what it is talking about and (b) is just as often making it up as it goes along.
Gently reply
Were they nikes, or more like steel-toe workboots?
Austin Powers, anyone? - www.awkwardengineer.com
Meanwhile admirers of the shoe attacker showered the anonymous young man with promises of everything from Nike trainers to replace his lost footwear, to iPads, sex and jobs."
So all one has to do to get free sex in China is build a Great Firewall?
Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
I'm an American who has lived in China for 7 years.
Most ordinary people in China believe the firewall is only for blocking pornography and dangerous information from terrorists. They don't believe political discussion is being blocked. In fact, there are many blogs and social networking sites in China full of political discussion, which are of course censored, but it is only a few sensitive topics that will be removed, so most users will never notice the censorship.
From the comments in this thread, it seems like most US internet users (even the savvy users on Slashdot) likewise believe that US web censorship is only for blocking IP infringement, and never for censoring political discussion.
So it would seem that Chinese and US internet users are equally misinformed and complacent about their own governments' internet censorship.
Manufacture in China
When was the last time anyone flew an airplane into an American skyscraper?
Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
Since when did /. start putting pictures instead of icons for the article pic? And girls on top of that. I smell Chinese firewall trolling.
I can understand an iPad, but what is he going to do with Steve Jobs?
The so-called "filesharers" are not members of the copyleft movement, which seek to use copyright laws to push their idea of copyright equality. Pretty much like socialists, hopefully of the democratic stripe. The "filesharers" are more like copy libertarians, who don't want any copyright laws or at least want to restrict the copyright regime to industrial grade infringement. They are like the pro-gun lobby who at most want laws restricting the ownership of battle grade weapons like machine guns or rocket-propelled grenades, or the pro-drugs lobby who want the freedom to get stoned or high on low-grade narcotics and stimulants.
pic/video or it didnt happen.
Wonder when the eggs and shoes will start flying in the US when RIAA and/or MPAA execs show up at events...
Chinese: Throw nikes
American: Throw nukes
See? Not that different.
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
Seems like most of you are missing a crucial point here. Or, possibly, I'm far too paranoid. FTFA:
Chinese police are seeking a man who said he threw eggs and shoes at the architect of China's "great firewall", the world's most sophisticated and extensive online censorship system.
and, FTFS:
Meanwhile admirers of the shoe attacker showered the anonymous young man with promises of everything from Nike trainers to replace his lost footwear, to iPads, sex and jobs.
Admirers, eh? I'd say that if I wanted to find someone, I'd find his price and start pursuing him. Just a thought, but I'd probably offer him a job. Maybe he needs one. Or, if that's not enticing enough, how about some sexual service[s] (to be provided by someone other than me, of course). Go down the list until you find his price. Then, when there's no possibility of escape, make him disappear. Just sayin'.
At least they're consistent.
I mean, in addition to Random Task and Muntadhar al-Zaiydi, now we have this guy launching shoes and eggs.
I am officially gone from
Now will you excuse me while I hone my egg-throwing skill.
A bit off topic... but say you needed a good software/networking architect and Fang Binxing came for an interview, would you consider as a good candidate or a bad candidate? On the one hand he's designed the Great Firewall, but on the other hand... he's designed the Great Firewall.
The Twitter user who claimed to have pelted him, who posts under the pseudonym @hanunyi, wrote: 'The egg missed the target. The first shoe hit the target. The second shoe was blocked by a man and a woman.'
This guy is merrily tweeting after his excellent adventures?
Remember, China is a country with a justice system that is not the joke that it is here in the west.
I'm surprised the police hasn't gotten around to re-educating his throwing arm towards the production of license plates for the glory of the motherland.
Should have taken classes in the George W. Bush school of shoe dodging
...from the Chinese Segments of the Internet?
If so, progress has been made. If not, paranoia runs deep.
For in politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. - Publius
It's the wrong target altogether. If a country allows for an oppressive government, then short of foreign military occupation it's the fault of the people living in the country for letting it happen. In china, it's not the programmer's fault for the great firewall, it's the chinese fault. The programmer is just a scapegoat. In the US, it's not the FBI or the "government's" fault for abusive 4-th-amendment ignoring national security letters, it's your fault and your neighbor's fault and his neighbor's fault...
Stop looking for scapegoats. Talk to everyone you know about these problems, tell them who they can vote for to fix them, or they are YOUR fault.
Throw chairs people of China! Throw chairs shouting 'programmers, programmers, programmers" while you sweat profusely! Your geek cool creds will increase dramatically! Eschew the shoe. Embrace the chair!
http://www.acetonestudio.com
Were they 1000 day old egss?
Robbins Mitchell
Houston,Texas
Nonono, you can get it, you just have to declare that you need it and what for. Probably also where you plan to connect to and a release form that you're not going to use it to do "illegal" stuff.
I'm kinda surprised we don't have something like that already.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I've been travelling though china for a few weeks now, and the great firewall is incredibly iritating. If anyone wants to help the chinese people towards freedom, and me towards facebook, I suggest running a bridge for tor. Its not hard to do and is very helpful to anyone stumped by the great firewall.
"denied the attack had happened."
Is this a Distributed Denial of Shoe attack?
Anyone else seeing Confucius Institute ad banners on this page?