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."

Comments

Americans are worse

[bleble]

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.

Re:Americans are worse

[bleble]

Oh yeah, this poker censor too, as well as wikileaks and countless of others. And here you guys are saying how bad Chinese are...

Re:Americans are worse

[interkin3tic]

I think copyright laws are an abomination, but I wouldn't put them in the same category of evil as the censorship going on in China. It's annoying to have the MPAA shutting down websites and suing legitimate video websites, sure, but that's a far cry from blocking political discussions.

Aside from just a question of taste, I also think you make those of us opposed to the MPAA's actions look like loons by equating the two, to say nothing of the pointless American bashing. Yes, we like beer and TV and complaining on slashdot, and yes, we are a little too apathetic about some things. Still, pointing it out as you have though is counterproductive, unless you're doing some sort of counter-astroturfing for the MPAA. You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar as the saying goes, even if it isn't literally true.

Either way, after reading your post, my gut impulse was to grab a beer and write the MPAA and tell them I'm okay with them rewriting the law in whatever country "bleble" lives in.

Re:Americans are worse

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's see. I can visit the piratebay, wikileaks, al jazera, and any other government disliked site I like without worry and without issue. Blocking dissident speech is a lot worse than blocking streaming sports and such.

In other words, your argument is shit.

Re:Americans are worse

[Cryacin]

Here's the bill sir. I'm afraid your reality cheque bounced.

Re:Americans are worse

[Isaac Remuant]

Can we stop fighting and agree that most first world countries are losing their rights at citizen level?

By the way, third wold countries worry too much about security, poverty, corruption and more to be able to do think much about freedom of speech yay or nay, they mainly move by inertia.

Unfortunate...

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

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.

Not Copylefties

[Anonymous Coward]

I realize that in your anger, you won't be able to separate me from the IP apologists, but I appeal to your cooler-headed colleagues of the copyleft movement and its ilk.

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.