Porn Sites Still Exposed In China

crimeandpunishment writes "Could it be that internet censorship in China has a pecking order? Politics and human rights are bad — but porn is okay? The porn sites that suddenly popped up in China two months ago are still accessible, leaving people wondering if it's a change in policy, a glitch, or maybe a test by the Chinese Internet police. The Chinese government isn't saying, but one Internet analyst speculates, 'Maybe they are thinking that if Internet users have some porn to look at, then they won't pay so much attention to political matters.'"

It works in the US

[SquarePixel]

'Maybe they are thinking that if Internet users have some porn to look at, then they won't pay so much attention to political matters.'

Hollywood and all other kind of crappy entertainment is the best example of how to keep people from thinking too much about issues that actually matter. US people mostly care about the results of the latest American Idol episode or the latest celebrity gossip. Just see the difference between CNN and Al Jazeera front page [tinypic.com].

However porn is not a political issue. It's a cultural and religion issue. It was banned in the US too, you can still get years in jail for "obscene porn" and people go mad if there's a nipple in the TV (anyone remember Janet Jackson nipple slip?)

But culture is slowly changing in the China too and this just follows it.

Re:It works in the US

[FunPika]

Welcome to the country where the general populace will consider Tiger Woods saying something at a press conference to be breaking news and what is happening in Washington, the Middle East, and the Gulf of Mexico to not even be front page worthy. :D

Who gains

[PPH]

Who gains from a ban on porn? The religious factions. This isn't something the Chinese communist party wants to promote. Banning porn also has the effect of eliminating an avenue of sexual release in a country where the young men outnumber the women. So instead of getting off in front of the computer screen, they go after the girl (or boy) next door. And the resulting civil unrest is exploited by these religious factions as well.

The Chinese are smart. They are watching the consequences of our missteps and the resulting social unrest and making adjustments to policies to prevent the same thing from occurring there.

Re:Keep your sites from the filter for a day=proff

[hackingbear]

The differences between China and US on corruption is that: in China, corruption is widespread from top officials to illiterate migrant workers but it is mostly illegal and can get you executed; whereas in the US, it is not as widespread, concentrated among the top offices, but is mostly made legal by carefully packaging it as legal activities -- donation, lobbying -- under the name of the democracy.

Re:Who gains

[Hermel]

Also, supervision of the Internet becomes easier because those trying to circumvent the Great Firewall are now the interesting cases and not mere porn downloads.