China's Parallel Online Universe

An anonymous reader writes "China is increasingly operating an online parallel universe where social media clones 'mimic the functions of the most popular, internationally recognized social media applications, such as Facebook and Twitter. The replicas, however, come with a major catch: they systematically comply with the Chinese Communist Party’s strict censorship requirements.' They are satisfying the growing demand of hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens for social media tools, reducing incentives for them to circumvent the 'Great Firewall,' Freedom House warns. Testing by researchers found that a search for the names of seven prominent Chinese lawyers, activists, and journalists on Sina Weibo returned no results, only an Orwellian notice that 'According to related laws and policy, some of the results are not shown here.'"

Comments

Re:But it's not wrong when corporations do it! Rig

[ScentCone]

OK, so we're clear now. You want the ability to control (to limit the freedom) of other people as they communicate and run their businesses. Like every evil Nanny State buffoon - just like Hugo Chavez "protecting" his people's liberty by shutting down radio stations that didn't say the things and play the music as he directed - you are actually trotting back out one of history's ugliest urges. You want to be able to tell the New York Times, the BBC, Google, your local radio stations, Microsoft, all of the bloggers that ramble online, every book publisher, people who choose which songs to perform songs in bars (or used to be able to choose, before your illiberal Orwellian anti-freedom kicked in) ... you want to define freedom for them by denyin them choice.

You want the editor of a web site to wake up in the morning, and go to work according to you rules, rather than in the service of their own vision and the audience they want to serve. You want slaves, and you're lamely - like every person with totalitarian sensibilities - trying to frame it as doing your slaves a favor.

The best part is how you characterize competing businesses that have brought huge new access to information - access unprecedented in human history - as being those who are limiting freedom. What a bunch of ignorant, perspective-less, whiny, adolescent, short-sighted nonsense. Or, you're exactly what you seem to be: someone who knows all of that, but is actively pursuing the sort of government control over private people and their communication that is and has always been seen in the worst of abusive nations. You'd fit right into North Korea, where they defend liberty in exactly the way you seem to prefer.