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China Blocks YouTube, Again
Posted by
Soulskill
on Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:05 AM
from the well-played-well-played dept.
from the well-played-well-played dept.
cryfreedomlove brings news that YouTube has once again been blocked in China. The Google-owned video site was censored in China last year because of videos about the protests in Tibet, and that may be the impetus behind this latest restriction. According to a New York Times report,
"'The instant speculation is that YouTube is being blocked because the Tibetan government in exile released a particular video,' said Xiao Qiang, adjunct professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley... Mr. Xiao said that the blocking of YouTube fit with what appeared to be an effort by China to step up its censorship of the Internet in recent months. Mr. Xiao said he was not surprised that YouTube was a target. It also hosts videos about the Tiananmen Square protests and many other subjects that Chinese authorities find objectionable."
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China Blocks YouTube Over Tibet Videos 343 comments
Screaming Cactus writes "Internet users in China were blocked from seeing YouTube.com on Sunday after dozens of videos about protests in Tibet appeared on the site. 'Chinese leaders encourage Internet use for education and business but use online filters to block access to material considered subversive or pornographic. Foreign Web sites run by news organizations and human rights groups are regularly blocked if they carry sensitive information. Operators of China-based online bulletin boards are required to monitor their content and enforce censorship.' The blocking added to the communist government's efforts to control what the public saw and heard about protests that erupted Friday in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, against Chinese rule."
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first (Score:2, Funny)
Re:first (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess the YouTube posters got all cocky when "The River Crab Wears Two Watches" and "Grass Mud Horse" didn't get it blocked...
This is an unfortunate development. For a bit there, it looked like China might be going more open, but I guess the infantilization of their people is more important. :-/
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I'm surprised this story is about China and not the UK. I guess it's only a matter of time - "UK Blocks Wikipedia" has already happened.
Re:Typical for an American to think... (Score:4, Informative)
That would be Commodore Matthew Perry, who opened up Japan by threat of force.
I wasn't sure if you were just trying to be funny...
Parent
What should Google do? (Score:5, Interesting)
But it is my hope that Youtube, blogs and similar sites have a positive effect on subverting the PRC government's policies of censorship and thought control, even when censored. Wikipedia suggests that this is true, with sexual content becoming less censored around 2004 [wikipedia.org]. It's also clear that the Chinese populace is willing and at least somewhat to subvert such censorship, as indicated by the "Ten Mythical Creatures [wikipedia.org]" meme.
So, though it galls me, perhaps Google should aim for some sort of middle of the road response to maximize the subversion of China's anti-free speech policies.
--sabre86
Re:What should Google do? (Score:5, Interesting)
My initial response is that Google should just ignore the blockage
When in Rome...
But it is my hope that Youtube, blogs and similar sites have a positive effect on subverting the PRC government's policies of censorship and thought control, even when censored.
Thought control is nonexistant. Chinese media may seem that way from the outside, but you have to understand that people are much more critical when they know it's controlled.
A seemingly irrelevant quote [wikipedia.org]: "Strangely enough, Hungarians living outside of Hungary - especially those living overseas - never really understood Hofi's message. This wasn't because of a language barrier: it was a consequence of drastically different experiences regarding certain historical events."
He became a legend not because he was critical, but because he said what everyone in the country was thinking anyway.
Parent
Re:What should Google do? (Score:5, Insightful)
He became a legend not because he was critical, but because he said what everyone in the country was thinking anyway.
Every crazy leader you've ever heard of was like that. We get more and more dissatisfied with living under the system we're in, until one day, some madman who doesn't care about political correctness stands up and says "We're all thinking the same way, lets get those motherfuckers!", and everyone follows them because they were the sanest person who was willing to lead them against their enemies.
It has to be a madman, because they're the outsiders. The insiders are paralyzed into indecisiveness by what they stand to lose, and are crippled by their tendency to use traditional methods to achieve their goals, which is a liability when you're trying to create a fresh new system.
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
China have censored part of the internet? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
I'll alert the presses!!!!!
Tell me, Mr. Anderson... what good is a phone call... if you're unable to speak?
Their Last Straw... (Score:2)
I guess the Tibetan Beating Video was the straw such that the Chinese Government just said, "Aw, screw it. Ban the whole thing."
It's not like no one saw it coming, but whats really scary is not that Chinese Citizens sit by and take this... but that from what I understand, they _condone it_ and even expect it.
Re:Their Last Straw... (Score:4, Insightful)
Turkey (don't mention the "genocide" against Armenians
Killing hundreds of thousands [wikipedia.org] of people deserve a bit more than quotation marks, don't you think?
Germany (no holocaust denial)
Which is fucked up itself. Any historical truth is only worth as much as it is allowed to research. Jailing people for asking "has that really happened?" is not freedom of speech.
Lying about a massacre of that degree should or should not be a crime, depending on your political views, but researching it? And if I find something contrary to the "truth" set in law, am I a criminal for saying it? Does even a historian [wikipedia.org] not have the right to his own opinion anymore?
I don't deny the Holocaust, but there's a certain amount of doubt in me against any fact you have to protect by force of law. That's Thought Police, even if what they're defending is true.
Parent
The real story (Score:5, Funny)
Secret footage of Mao Tse-Tung wearing a really comfy pair of Italian loafers. The Tibet stuff is a cover story.
Tiananmen Square (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't believe this isn't talked about more. I can't believe it didn't come up before they decided to let them host the Olympics.
You guys know they put a bunch of farm boys into tanks and had them roll into Tiananmen Square and start shooting students, right? Shooting from their tanks onto balconies.
What do you think happened to that guy standing in front of the tank (you know the picture)? You think he's still alive? Can you imagine the courage it took to do that?
And the world rewarded these murderers with the Olympic Games.
Re:Tiananmen Square (Score:4, Interesting)
Parent
Yeah but... (Score:2)
That was one AWESOME opening ceremony, wasn't it?
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
PS the Olympic games are for sale to whoever wants to pay. I thought we settled that back when Salt Lake City got caught for bribery
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
In soviet ... (Score:5, Interesting)
In Soviet America sites block you. [slashdot.org]
(I am glad I can't moderate myself, as I would have no idea wether this is troll, funny or insightfull. Oh well. I have way too much karma anyway.)
Great firewall of... wtf? (Score:5, Insightful)
Okay, seriously; They've invested tens (if not hundreds) of millions of dollars into a national infrastructure informally known as the "Great Firewall of China". And yet they block sites wholesale rather than by keyword, URL, or a dozen other possibilities? If they're trying to keep this as transparent to the population as possible, why constantly block and unblock popular sites? It just compels people to ask the question "Why do they keep blocking/unblocking this site?" And the answer is only a google query away.
I'm not arguing for or against censorship here, I'm merely pointing out that it's difficult to imagine that they lack the most basic capabilities of censorship software that is sold commercially and globally elsewhere, and that it is not technically challenging to impliment those features. Why spend millions on an infrastructure item that lacks even the most basic features needed for its intended use?
Re:Great firewall of... wtf? (Score:5, Insightful)
It IS transparent to the population of China. I live here, and its just not an issue even with the net-addicted teenagers I teach every day. They all use Chinese video sites, and the only people annoyed by this are us westerners.
Think of it this way: how many Chinese language sites do you go to every day? Would you notice if a few got shut down? That, my friends, is the reality of this to the average Chinese person.
Now, if they shut down WOW, we'd have a revolution today!
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Great firewall of... wtf? (Score:5, Informative)
Youtube isn't globally popular:
http://www.youku.com/ [youku.com]
Facebook isn't globally popular:
http://www.zhanzuo.com/ [zhanzuo.com]
MSN messenger isn't globally popular:
http://www.qq.com/ [qq.com]
And in fact there is a cloned super-sanitized version of every web service that exists, so the majority of people just don't notice or even care.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I wonder how many people would react if the number 2 or number 3 video site in America disappeared for a week or two. (assuming, of course, that we have been conditioned to accept bullying and cens
Chinese have many ways getting around censorhsip (Score:3, Informative)