New Compilation of Banned Chinese Search-Terms Reveals Curiosities

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New Compilation of Banned Chinese Search-Terms Reveals Curiosities

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 11, 2014 @06:29PM from the bad-words dept.

An anonymous reader writes Canada's Citizen Lab has compiled data from various research projects around the world in an attempt to create a manageable Github repository of government-banned Chinese keywords in internet search terms and which may appear in Chinese websites. Until now the study of such terms has proved problematic due to disparate research methods and publishing formats. A publicly available online spreadsheet which CCL have provided to demonstrate the project gives an interesting insight into the reactive and eccentric nature of the Great Blacklist of China, as far as outside research can deduce. Aside from the inevitable column listings of dissidents and references to government officials and the events in Tiananmen Square in 1989, search terms as basic as "system" and "human body" appear to be blocked.

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Like why is feline on the menu? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-11 18:41 · Score: 0

I am curious.
1. Re:Like why is feline on the menu? by davester666 · 2014-12-11 19:03 · Score: 1
  
  because chicks are crazy. especially Chinese ones.
  
  --
  Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
2. Re:Like why is feline on the menu? by AmiMoJo · 2014-12-11 21:32 · Score: 2
  
  Note that all the terms are not "banned". Searching for "system" will not take you to a blank results page. They are just terms for which some results are filtered, so I guess for "system" maybe information on alternative systems of government or something.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
3. Re:Like why is feline on the menu? by Chris+Mattern · 2014-12-12 00:43 · Score: 1
  
  I am curious.
  (Yellow)
  Or is that racist?
4. Re:Like why is feline on the menu? by PPH · 2014-12-12 03:28 · Score: 1
  
  It's still on the menu at my favorite Chinese restaurant. Only they prefer that you call it chicken.
  
  --
  Have gnu, will travel.
5. Re:Like why is feline on the menu? by sabt-pestnu · 2014-12-12 04:07 · Score: 1
  
  ... so what you're saying is that in China, baby chickens eat cats? Aren't you thinking "In Soviet Russia..."
6. Re:Like why is feline on the menu? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-12 07:36 · Score: 0
  
  Yes, that made me (Blue).
How about a list for Australia ... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-11 18:57 · Score: 0

... another list for Saudi Arabia ... another for Great Britain ... another for Italy ... and so on?
Why home in only on China?
1. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by Opportunist · 2014-12-11 19:01 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I was thinking exactly that. Why China? If anything, we'd be far more interested in the relevant lists of the countries whose ban lists have an actual impact on us.
  Who cares about what's censored in China? We want to know what's censored at home!
  
  --
  We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
2. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by Kkloe · 2014-12-11 19:02 · Score: 1
  
  why dont you create one?
3. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-11 19:02 · Score: 0
  
  Don't you know who the good guys and the bad guys are?
4. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by Opportunist · 2014-12-11 19:31 · Score: 1
  
  Ìt's getting harder to tell by the minute. The paranoid in me would probably say that there are no good guys left, it's no longer white hats vs black hats, it's all just different shades of grey.
  
  --
  We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
5. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by CaptQuark · 2014-12-11 19:38 · Score: 0
  
  Where do you live that makes you think your access to information is being censored? Do you click on links and find the destination is blocked? Do people mention news articles that you can't access?
  
  China has a history of blocking many sites they deem inappropriate for people to visit. You think the list of words that the country with the (now) largest economy in the world DOESN'T have an impact on you?
  
  ~~
  You think that's air you're breathing now? Hmph..
6. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by Harlequin80 · 2014-12-11 19:44 · Score: 2
  
  There is a blacklist in Australia that the Govt is open about the existence of. The problem is you dont get to know what is on it and there have been numerous cases of sites being taken down for being incorrectly put on there.
7. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by Harlequin80 · 2014-12-11 19:46 · Score: 1
  
  To add - the Australian list is called the ACMA Blacklist - it was leaked in 2010 by wikileaks
8. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by SuricouRaven · 2014-12-11 19:51 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  There's a secret blacklist in the UK called Cleanfeed - it's supposed to be for child porn, but the contents of the list is a closely guarded secret, and it's already known from an incident where Wikipedia was briefly blocked by mistake that many ISPs will spoof a 404 message rather than reveal the reason for the block, so it's impossible to say how many non-child-porn pages are blocked.
9. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-11 20:29 · Score: 0
  
  Who cares about what's censored in China?
  China is the future. What they do we will wind up doing. Even now there is talk in "advanced circles" (thinktanks?) about the world needing to limit each family to one child in order to prevent future worldwide starvation. This is the way the carbon tax proposals were floated before Al Gore's movie.
  
  We want to know what's censored at home!
  Only our very thoughts if we speak English....
10. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by phantomfive · 2014-12-11 21:33 · Score: 2
  
  Who cares about what's censored in China? We want to know what's censored at home!
  Google doesn't censor based on keyword in the US, or in almost any country. They do, however, remove websites from the search results. When that happens, they put a message in the results informing you what happened.
  
  Also, they keep a collection of every website that's been removed, so you can see it.
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
11. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-11 21:35 · Score: 0
  
  Where do you live that makes you think your access to information is being censored? Do you click on links and find the destination is blocked? Do people mention news articles that you can't access?
  No restrictions where I live - but censorship happens in the english-speaking part of the western world. Sometimes, the clowns think that blocking based on word lists is a good idea. (Usually 'offensive words', to 'protect the children' or whatever.)
  It is an extremely bad idea. First, children simply don't need protection form "bad words". They know them well enough already. And just as important, there are all sorts of side effects as most 'bad words' have serious uses or even different meanings. (especially when other languages are involved.)
  For a start, read the wikipedia article on the "Scunthorpe effect" to see why wordlist-blocking is extremely silly - and that it happens in the western world too.
12. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by Silicon-Surfer · 2014-12-11 21:47 · Score: 0
  
  The ACMA maintains a blacklist of about 1100 websites according to their website. These sites are not blocked to all Australians though, the list is provided to the makers of "family friendly filters". That's quite a different situation to China where much of the web is blocked.
13. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by Antique+Geekmeister · 2014-12-12 00:19 · Score: 1
  
  Given the bans on credit card contributions to WikiLeaks and he behavior of RIAA and MPAA, and the very strange intellectual properties concerning computer software and the DMCA? Yes, I'd say content is being filtered. Also, given laws about child pornography and human torture depictions, I'd say yes, content is blocked in the USA and internationally.
  China's filters are much, much broader, but it does not mean speech is completely free elsewhere.
14. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-12 01:25 · Score: 0
  
  China is only blocking non-"family friendly" site also. What parent want their kids to be exposed to western fascist propaganda! When the state decide what is "family friendly" this is called censorship. It doesn't matter what embellishment label you put on it, it is still censorship.
15. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-12 01:30 · Score: 0
  
  Where do you live that makes you think your access to information is being censored? Do you click on links and find the destination is blocked? Do people mention news articles that you can't access?
  China has a history of blocking many sites they deem inappropriate for people to visit. You think the list of words that the country with the (now) largest economy in the world DOESN'T have an impact on you?
  ~~
  You think that's air you're breathing now? Hmph..
  No - I prefer to mark such things in terms of the emergence of one integral anomaly to the next... Ironically, the self proclaimed oracles are the ones who should not be trusted, rather than the 'system'. Not that there are any guarantees there either.
16. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by PPH · 2014-12-12 03:22 · Score: 1
  
  I found the one for Britain
  
  --
  Have gnu, will travel.
17. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by myowntrueself · 2014-12-12 04:09 · Score: 1
  
  There's a secret blacklist in the UK called Cleanfeed - it's supposed to be for child porn, but the contents of the list is a closely guarded secret, and it's already known from an incident where Wikipedia was briefly blocked by mistake that many ISPs will spoof a 404 message rather than reveal the reason for the block, so it's impossible to say how many non-child-porn pages are blocked.
  Given the porno laws in the UK the very *words* in the blacklist would probably make the list itself child porn.
  So thats why they can't show you the blacklist; they'd be distributing child porn!
  
  --
  In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
18. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-12 07:29 · Score: 0
  
  China is not the future. China has temporary success because they never had a middle class. People are already moving jobs out of China.
19. Re:How about a list for Australia ... by Opportunist · 2014-12-13 03:17 · Score: 1
  
  Never encountered a "We had to remove 2 results due to some DMCA rubbish" search result from Google?
  And don't gimme "but that's the law" bullshit. It's the law in China to censor those pages that you don't get to see. Just 'cause something is the law doesn't mean that it's right.
  
  --
  We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Another suggestion: by freeze128 · 2014-12-11 19:06 · Score: 5, Funny

They should also ban: "Please enable javascript"
1. Re:Another suggestion: by SeaFox · 2014-12-11 19:25 · Score: 2
  
  You actually search for that? What kind of masochist are you?!
2. Re:Another suggestion: by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-12 03:39 · Score: 0
  
  People should start adding a javascript that stops their page from working but tells the user "disable javascript" to see the site.
There is no more "good guy" by Taco+Cowboy · 2014-12-11 19:22 · Score: 5, Insightful

Disclaimer: I was from China
There supposed to be a difference between the "Good Guys" (ie The West) and the "BADDIES" (darn commies), but with all the NSA snoopin', the CIA "extraordinary rendering", the congress voted away all the rights of the citizens, and all that ...

Honestly, I dunno anymore

--
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
1. Re:There is no more "good guy" by GNious · 2014-12-11 20:55 · Score: 1
  
  Disclaimer: I was from China
  Was? And now you're no longer from China? :p
2. Re:There is no more "good guy" by LordLimecat · 2014-12-12 02:20 · Score: 2
  
  Honestly, I dunno anymore
  Sounds like you lack the ability to differentiate the gap between "sort of bad" and "terribly oppressive".
3. Re:There is no more "good guy" by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-12 05:47 · Score: 1
  
  You are literally arguing that nationwide searches and torture are "sort of bad". When they come for the Muslims, you said nothing because you were not a Muslim.
4. Re:There is no more "good guy" by LordLimecat · 2014-12-12 07:12 · Score: 1
  
  No, Im arguing that relative to the vast majority (90+%) of regimes current or historical, we are not that bad. You seem to think that torture is a recent development, or that echelon hasnt existed for decades. You also seem to think that a reasonable comparison between China's human rights issues and ours can be made; it cant.
5. Re:There is no more "good guy" by DNS-and-BIND · 2014-12-12 08:55 · Score: 1
  
  Of course, this completely ignores the 100,000,000 people that the US government has murdered since 9/11, but hey. We can't all be perfect.
  
  --
  Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
6. Re:There is no more "good guy" by DNS-and-BIND · 2014-12-12 09:01 · Score: 1
  
  Well, there is the fact that the Chinese commies murdered 60,000,000 people in pursuit of their utopia. And dammit, didn't achieve it. I mean, if they HAD achieved socialism, it would have been worth it. 60,000,000 human beings dead, but the end-state would have justified the means. The best part would have been that they PROVED that it could work, and provided the rest of the world a template to get there. Of course, the road would have been paved with murdered humans, but that kind of thing gets glossed over when we're talking about the final victory of socialism.
  Of course, this completely ignores the 100,000,000 people that the US government has murdered since 9/11, but hey. We can't all be perfect.
  
  --
  Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
7. Re:There is no more "good guy" by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-12 12:47 · Score: 0
  
  No, Im arguing that relative to the vast majority (90+%) of regimes current or historical, we are not that bad. You seem to think that torture is a recent development, or that echelon hasnt existed for decades. You also seem to think that a reasonable comparison between China's human rights issues and ours can be made; it cant.
  What's the basis of your "90%+ argument"?
  Right now it's your personal unsubstantiated opinion.
  Some would argue China is that much better than "we".
  In terms of not being the cause/sustainer of all manners of conflicts and strife.With millions dead, or in dire conditions.
  A world now polluted with all types of materials that are probably environmental time bombs (plastics, genetically modified organism, nanotech...).
  What do you think of that "argument"?
8. Re:There is no more "good guy" by LordLimecat · 2014-12-16 08:01 · Score: 1
  
  Some would argue China is that much better than "we".
  Those people are ignorant. I have read China's history, I have been to China. The degree of government control and "fake" freedom is astounding. You can be arrested for speaking of religion to a minor; you can be arrested for handing out political pamphlets (I actually witnessed this, and had a pamphlet confiscated). I've flown into Shanghai airport, and seen a river so dirty that you can see precisely where the water meets the ocean, not because of the surrounding land (which is hard to see because of the grey smoggy air) but because thats where the water goes from yellow to green.
  Only someone completely ignorant of China, or who eats up their state-run media soundbytes, could possibly think there is a comparison to be made there.
  
  What's the basis of your "90%+ argument"?
  The fact that from a statistical basis-- Dept of Education, Dept of Labor, Dept of Housing, etc-- the people currently alive in the US and western Europe comprise less than 5% of the CURRENT world population, and are richer, freer, and better educated than the remaining 95% CURRENTLY alive? Let alone historical.
Worst website ever by phantomfive · 2014-12-11 20:19 · Score: 2, Informative

TFA is the worst website design I've seen in several months. Here is the link to the original source, which is a bit easier to read.

--
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
incorrect methodology by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-11 22:50 · Score: 0

The list is a collection of various other list. I am not sure about the methodology followed for all of them, but some will result in incorrect results. The problem is that you search for some seemingly trivial words (system, human body), some page in the results that google or an other search engine returns will contain keywords (or even a website) that trigger the "connection reset". Thus is it not the word itself, it just that a top result has that word in combination with a forbidden term.
Great, GitHub will get blocked again in China! by NeoHermit · 2014-12-11 23:50 · Score: 1

...in an attempt to create a manageable Github repository of government-banned Chinese keywords in internet search terms and which may appear in Chinese websites.
I wonder if they are aware of this possibility.
How many mythical creatures of Baidu is it now? by random+coward · 2014-12-12 04:09 · Score: 1

It used to be 10 Mythical Creatures how many will it be now?