Iranians Outwit Censors With Falun Gong Software 171
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that since last year more than 400,000 Iranians began surfing the uncensored Web using software created for the Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that has been suppressed by the Chinese government since 1999. More than 20 countries now use increasingly sophisticated blocking and filtering systems for Internet content, according to Reporters Without Borders, including Iran, China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Syria. The creators of the software seized upon by Iranians are members of the Global Internet Freedom Consortium, based largely in the United States and closely affiliated with Falun Gong. Interestingly enough, the United States government and the Voice of America have financed some of the circumvention technology efforts, and a coalition is organizing to push for more Congressional financing of anti-filtering efforts, bringing together dissidents of Vietnam, Iran, the Uighur minority of China, Tibet, Myanmar, Cuba, Cambodia, Laos, as well as the Falun Gong, to lobby Congress for the financing. 'What is our leverage toward a country like Iran? Very little,' said Michael Horowitz, a fellow at the Hudson Institute. 'Suppose we have the capacity to make it possible for the president of the United States at will to communicate with hundreds of thousands of Iranians at no risk or limited risk? It just changes the world.'"
Re:I have a dream... (Score:4, Informative)
And the world has not been driven to dysfunctionalty by the freewheeling Internet, so censors and critics may as well get a life
Re:The markets are effective at this sort of thing (Score:3, Informative)
Exactly! Maybe that was why I was sarcastic..
What about the other countries? (Score:5, Informative)
No mention of the U.K., Germany, or Australia which are also implementing blocking technologies? Very western of us to ignore the other supposed free countries.
Falun gong? Those suicidal ones? (Score:3, Informative)
From google cache:
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:d3NzsFRIiU4J:english.peopledaily.com.cn/200103/20/eng20010320_65533.html+falun+gong+suicides&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca [74.125.95.132]
IMHO Some things should be outlawed.
Re:Great Idea, but Wait 4 Years Please (Score:1, Informative)
Thought so.
Re:Hooray for Falun Gong (Score:3, Informative)
Falun Gong/Falun Dafa have been brutalized by the Chinese government for years for doing nothing more than practicing a mental and physical discipline.
From what I read about the Fulun Gong is that they are pretty similar to Scientology in beliefs and certain "practices". Now even though Scientologists can be a bit shady with their cult, I would still argue that it would be wrong to throw them in jail and beat their members much like the Chinese did to the FG.
I was in Iran 6 weeks ago and (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Hooray for Falun Gong (Score:1, Informative)
Falun Gong is rather clearly a cult, and is certainly not just "mental and physical discipline." I've seen numerous claims made by supporters that are obviously bogus and dangerous, including things like Falun Gong curing cancer when patients stopped seeking normal treatment and just practised Falun Gong. Those sorts of claims kill people.
Also, in many cases, it seems that supporters try to subversively insert pro-Falun Gong propaganda into things that are not represented as having anything to do with the cult, including, for example, the show that often travels through the US claiming to be a representative presentation of Chinese performing arts, with the fact that it is funded entirely by Falun Gong supporters left entirely unmentioned save for a bit of fine print.
Certainly, the Chinese government is wrong in the way they are going about handling the situation, and their methods aren't even effective: I would think it far better to simply hang Falun Gong supporters with their own words. But this doesn't mean that Falun Gong is somehow innocent or wonderful, in the same way that Scientology being evil does not mean that Anonymous is nice.