China Censoring Flickr

An anonymous reader writes "It would appear that the Chinese government is currently censoring all photos on the site Flickr. A notice has been posted in a Flickr help forum about this, but the service currently doesn't have a fix for this. It would appear that China has turned on their Golden Shield Project to censor the site. 'Jain Hua Li, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said he hadn't heard of Flickr until told about it in a conversation with a Chronicle reporter, and then suggested that the blocking may be because Chinese authorities are trying to protect children from racy images. Lucie Morillon, the U.S. representative for Reporters Without Borders, a French group that promotes free expression, said that the Beijing government often censors Web sites under the guise of protecting children or national security. She called the blocking of Flickr "one more blow against the free flow of information online by Chinese authorities" and added that it is particularly lamentable in light of promises by China to loosen restrictions before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.' Thomas Hawk has a well-considered opinion to offer on this issue."

Not News

[tarogue]

China censors the internet. It's what they do. How about an article of what China is *not* censoring?

So let me get this straight

[Anonymous Coward]

You guys want us to buy all the stuff you make, and you don't want to allow your people access to the ideas we make.

How much longer are you going to let this authoritarian bullshit go on? Do you realize how powerful China could become if it embraced concepts like "the free exchange of ideas"? You guys could be mining helium on the Moon, then building interplanetary transportation and communication networks with the Europeans and the Africans (if they can also get their act together in the next few decades), while we Americans are visiting the Creation Museum in Kentucky and arguing about whether or not to allow gays to get married to each other.

Let go of your artificial attempts to control your society. They'll do fine. Let things evolve.

China (or India) could leave America in the dust in the first half of this century, if they want to.

The Reason is Obvious

[Anonymous Coward]

A couple of days ago was the anniversary of the Tianenmen Square Massacre. Several major sites were carrying a story about a Flickr album depicting the event. No doubt the Chinese Communist Party censors picked up on it and decided to block.

Re:Come on China,

[Ash Vince]

I notice the moronic mods are out in force.

I actually thought the first post was quite funny but I suppose anyone suggesting that the US govt might like to censor anything is offensive to some people. The reality is that the US goverment and certain states in particular have a long history of censorship.

As usual, wikipedia has a pretty decent page on the subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_the_Uni ted_States [wikipedia.org]

I am not saying that the US is as bad as China, but no government is above trying to censor things they dont aggree with for any number of reasons.

Re:Any confirmation?

[icydog]

Yes, I first started noticing this at the end of last week (around Wednesday or Thursday). Flickr photos worked fine up until then; now all images (JPGs?) from flickr domains are blocked, even the logos, icons, buttons, and such that are part of the site layout. I'm in Shanghai.