



Study Shows China Tightens Internet Filtering 298
Torrey Clark writes "China is the world's leading censor of the Internet, filtering web sites, blogs, e-mail, and online forums for sensitive political content, according to a study released Thursday. The OpenNet Initiative said that China employs thousands officials and private citizens to build a 'pervasive, sophisticated, and effective' system of Internet censorship. 'ONI sought to determine the degree to which China filters sites on topics that the Chinese government finds sensitive, and found that the state does so extensively,' said the study. 'Chinese citizens seeking access to Web sites containing content related to Taiwanese and Tibetan independence, Falun Gong, the Dalai Lama, the Tiananmen Square incident, opposition political parties, or a variety of anti-Communist movements will frequently find themselves blocked,' the report said."
Works fine from here. (Score:5, Funny)
Somebody had to say it.
Re:Go show, man! (Score:2, Funny)
[this post has been filterd to remove all useful content...]
and secondly,
[this post has been filterd to remove all useful content...]
so you see, this is why we must rise up and welcome our new [this post has been filterd to remove all useful content...] overlords!
Re:Go show, man! (Score:3, Insightful)
Everyone complains about China and other asian countries, yet no one says anything about the filtering in the united arab emirates, saudi arabia, yemen, sudan, egypt etc. All those middle eastern and african counties. Perhaps its because most of the countries supply oil? Their human rights records are abysmal, and their internet censorship, media black outs, and press restrictions are far worse than Chi
Re:Go show, man! (Score:2)
They filter everything. I've lived in China for the past 10 years and I can tell you that the American government/media is telling you the truth.
Oh God! Someone's breaking down my front door!
Which is one good reason why... (Score:5, Informative)
As always, if anyone would like to support our development effort, please feel free to donate [freenetproject.org].
Re:Which is one good reason why... (Score:4, Interesting)
There is a philosophical question under all this. Do people have an inherent right to have any and all information free? I don't think anyone wants ALL information floating around free. What most would consider freedom advocates will still want all spam shut down. Somwhere a little to the right of that, some will want websites teaching how to make bombs shut down. A little more to the right, some will want porn shut down.
So the question arises, should countries, with their own values, be able to determine what content their people are exposed to? For example, can China declare communism is best, and ban all websites promoting capitalism? Can Iran declare western film evil, and ban all websites with western film content?
Re:Which is one good reason why... (Score:3, Funny)
Yes! They can and they do. But, perhaps most inersting, is that their governments and laws are not swayed by the opinion of Slashdotters. Weird eh?
Re:Which is one good reason why... (Score:3, Funny)
Thank God. Sometimes I think there is more inbreeding at Slashdot than in the British Royal Family.
I can just imagine if Slashdot was a government. They would ban Microsoft, everyone would have to have linux, although there would be a sect of the government pushing for BSD. Government TV would only show Wierd Science and Real Genius, back to back, and foreve
Re:Do not read if you're paranoid (Score:2)
In the words of The One Who Shouldn't Be Named:
BRING IT ON!
Re:Which is one good reason why... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Which is one good reason why... (Score:2)
When I say "ask" I mean it in the sense that they actually want it, not that they do something which causes them to get it against their will.
I use the term "freedom of communication", and I take communication to be a transfer of information with the consent of both sender an
Re:Which is one good reason why... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Which is one good reason why... (Score:2, Insightful)
I think you'd be surprised.
So the question arises, should countries, with their own values, be able to determine what content their people are exposed to?
No.
For example, can China declare communism is best, and ban all websites promoting capitalism?
Yes.
Can Iran declare western film evil, and ban all websites with western film content?
Yes.
Spam != information (Score:2)
Spam is not information. Spam is unsolicited bulk email. The information disseminated through spam could be put on a webpage or emailed to subscribers only, and it wouldn't be spam. Freedom of speech has nothing to do with cramming speech down p
Re:Which is one good reason why... (Score:3, Insightful)
I agree that many voters would want this, but I doubt the Republican politicans would ever actually do it. The politicians are in a beneficial cycle at the moment, where they are elected by people who desperately want them to do certain things, most of which would be bad strategy for them to actually do.
It's far more beneficial to give the appearance of strenuously fighting porn than to actually eradicate it, since that would be one fewer thing th
Re:Which is one good reason why... (Score:2)
I do, for one. This already makes your argument moot =)
Seriously, though, I think you mistake the 'freedom to hear' and 'freedom to say' (which is what free speech is all about) with 'freedom to be heard' (which is what spam overlords demand, and what we refuse to them). The first two are most definitely fundamental rights, and yes, I believe they apply to any kind of information - be it a political manifest, instruction on how to make exp
Other Anonymous P2P Applications (Score:3, Informative)
There are also other end-user (working) anonymous-p2p programs [wikipedia.org] such as:
The site Anonymous-p2p.org [anonymous-p2p.org] has a good list of anonymous p2p programs as well.
Re:Which is one good reason why... (Score:2)
Re:Which is one good reason why... (Score:2, Informative)
Book called "Steal this computer Book 2" by Wallace Wang (a very good read, if I may stray slightly offtopic) mentions, in addition to "Human Rights in China" website ( http://www.hrichina.org/ ) existance of 2 mail-newsletters, distributed via e-mails, that focus on issues of Freedoms of Speech and Information in PRC:
http://www.bignews.org/ - seems to be still pretty
Dept (Score:4, Funny)
Filtering (Score:5, Funny)
Culture Differences. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Culture Differences. (Score:2)
My only problem with free speech is that those who don't know how to speek also have the freedom.
Re:Culture Differences. (Score:2)
Whipping out my English cluestick...
free speech freedoms should be free speech.
speek should be speak
speek properly should have a comma after it, denoting a compound sentence.
functional illiterate problem should either be 'illiteracy problem' or 'widespread functional illiteracy.'
"My only problem with free speech is that those who don'
Re:Culture Differences. (Score:2)
English shouldn't be capitalized when speaking about the language, only when speaking about the people from England. The English speak english.
It sounds like you barely tolerate free speech (Score:2, Insightful)
You must recognize that the concept of "that which is harmful to society" is equivalent to "that which is immoral."
Given that, you must agree with me that free speech gives people the right to have immoral thoughts.
But who is the arbiter of what is a moral thought and what is an i
I'm curious... (Score:2)
Censorship (Score:3, Insightful)
Granted the Japanese is almost rewriting history as oppposed to censoring it completely, but I believe the fundamental mentality is the same.
Re:Censorship (Score:5, Insightful)
I guarantee that wherever you are, the same thing happens. The popular version of history is rarely as unpleasant as the reality. "History is written by the winners" as the saying goes. So, while we Brits forget about us routinely using bombardment to literally terrorize "unwilling subjects" in the British Empire days, the Americans gloss-over cowboys genociding 20,000,000 native Americans over 20 or so years. If there isn't a movie/tv drama about it; it never happened.
Apologies if I didn't rake up any shit on your country. Consult your local library if you want more information. It's all there. Even the neuteral Swiss will have some dark periods of history that is glossed over in popular culture.
Whoa there cowboy.... (Score:2, Informative)
Americans gloss-over cowboys genociding 20,000,000 native Americans over 20 or so years
This is the myth passed around by europeans and arabs as a way to justify their own atrocities.
From the Indian Wars wiki [wikipedia.org]
"citing figures from a 1894 estimate by the United States Census Bureau, one scholar has noted that the more than 40 Indian wars from 1775 to 1890 reportedly claimed the lives of some 45,000 Indians and 19,000 whites.1 This rough estimate includes women and children, since noncombatants
Re:Whoa there cowboy.... (Score:2)
Re:Whoa there cowboy.... (Score:3)
Nah, not really. Perhaps I was a little hasty in my "20 years or so", it was probably over a longer period all in all. We aren't talkin WW2 camps here, where genocide was horrifically paired with industrialization. There were still natives around to bury the dead in the usual way, and it's a big country. Smallpox infected blankets given to infants don't really lead to mass graves.
No one wants to hear bad things about their coun
Re:Whoa there cowboy.... (Score:2)
I can't remember where I read it originally, but a quick google for "native american 20000000" found this [indigenous-language.org]
So, OK, make that 18,000,000. Either way, it's worse than the Nazi holocaust if you
Re:Censorship (Score:2)
Yes, the Swiss are excellent shots. That's the reason for the holes in their cheese: target practice, and lots of it.
Chris Columbus... (Score:2)
And the majority seems to forget quickly (Score:2)
Re:And the majority seems to forget quickly (Score:2)
Re:What about Canada? (Score:2)
(From a wider viewpoint, it could be argued that our dealings of native peoples (also incl. Inuit) through our entire history has been filled with colossal blunders, incompetence and outright betrayals. (cf. the Indian Act))
When w
Re:What about Canada? (Score:2)
Re:What about Canada? (Score:2)
Re:What about Canada? (Score:2)
Re:Censorship (Score:2, Insightful)
Ironic that they don't care about their own government's similar behavior... or maybe not really, when you think about what the chinese gov't do to those who publicly protest the Chinese government.
Anon-Proxy (Score:3, Informative)
It's good to see they get most favored nation... (Score:4, Insightful)
Especially when that trade costs many American workers their jobs, and results in a massive trade deficit that's only good for China, American executives, and their puppet politicians.
Must be the whole "culture of life" thing at work.
and the Olympics and Arms from Europe (Score:3, Insightful)
NOT!
China is playing countries off on each other to great effect. They are setting the stage to walk all over Taiwan. They will get it to the point that the EU will probably actively prevent the US from exercising their promise to protect this island country.
China sits there and violates most things that both th
How Effective Is It? (Score:2)
1. Is the filtering truly effective, or only the most effective filtering currently in use?
2. How long can the government of China sustain this level of filtering before it either shuts off most of the Internet to its citizens or has to give it up as unmanageble?
3. How long will it be before some politi
ianc (i am not chinese) (Score:3, Funny)
but it seems to me that there is a chink in their armor here. how does the government determine who is allowed to determine what is allowed to be viewed? employing thousands of people for the task of limiting the viewing capabilities of all the others doesn't seem very effective to me. what's stopping any one, or more, of them from building in a backdoor for themselves? from visiting "dangerous" sites? i'm sure there are very strict, probably painful, penalties for such actions, but it comes back to the question brought up earlier: qui custodiet ipsos custodes?
Re:ianc (i am not chinese) (Score:3, Funny)
It's unintentional gems like this that make my day.
Re:ianc (i am not chinese) (Score:2)
I'd bet that some (if not most) of the people who work on it have unlimited access, but their usage is monitored. As for monitoring, well given the google api and a few weeks, you could write your own bot that does searches for things
Dept? (Score:4, Insightful)
Brings up a good question though (Score:2)
From TFA: (Score:5, Insightful)
Another proof (if needed) of the total uselessness of american corporate media.
China's dictatorial government doesn't even see them as a threat... Sleep tight america.
Logographic language filtering (Score:5, Interesting)
It seems like it would be a lot easier to block an idea if it were represented by a unique character than by a set of phonemes that could easily be 0bfu5cat3d without losing meaning. Does a language like Chinese generally lend itself better to computerized manipulation?
Interesting (Score:2, Insightful)
1) Doesn't it defeat the purpose of hiding something when you pay thousands of people to read it?
2) How effective can any system that relies on human judgement be?
3) What's to stop a small dedicated group of people from letting a few "un-authorized" pages slip through the cracks.
1,000 1,000,000,000 (Score:2)
And don't forget you never know who is watching you but you KNOW some one is because you're doing the same thing to other randomly selected watchers.
"Quid custodes ipso custodes? Omnia!"
Who will watch the watchers? Everybody!
They are putting 1 person in 1,000,000 at potential risk and they are minigating that risk by putting the same people on surveilance of each other
Re:1,000 1,000,000,000 (Score:2)
Have you metamoderated recently?
Re:Interesting (Score:2)
Various sources seems to suggest this is the much more accurate figure:
1,298,847,624 (July 2004 est.)
Cheap labor (Score:3, Funny)
They may be censors, and against the individual (Score:3, Funny)
Falun Gong (Score:5, Informative)
For those who don't know much about Falun Gong. Here is a link [time.com] to an interview with Li Hongzhi (the leader of Falun Gong) by Time in 1999 (just before Fa Lungong was banned in China). The following conversation on the 3rd page is particularly entertaining:
TIME: Where do they(the aliens) come from?Li: The aliens come from other planets. The names that I use for these planets are different . Some are from dimensions that human beings have not yet discovered. The key is how they have corrupted mankind. Everyone knows that from the beginning until now, there has never been a development of culture like today. Although it has been several thousand years, it has never been like now.
The aliens have introduced modern machinery like computers and airplanes. They started by teaching mankind about modern science, so people believe more and more science, and spiritually, they are controlled. Everyone thinks that scientists invent on their own when in fact their inspiration is manipulated by the aliens. In terms of culture and spirit, they already control man. Mankind cannot live without science.
The ultimate purpose is to replace humans. If cloning human beings succeeds, the aliens can officially replace humans. Why does a corpse lie dead, even though it is the same as a living body? The difference is the soul, which is the life of the body. If people reproduce a human person, the gods in heaven will not give its body a human soul. The aliens will take that opportunity to replace the human soul and by doing so they will enter earth and become earthlings.
When such people grow up, they will help replace humans with aliens. They will produce more and more clones. There will no longer be humans reproduced by humans. They will act like humans, but they will introduce legislation to stop human reproduction.
TIME: Are you a human being?
Li: You can think of me as a human being.
TIME: Are you from earth?
Li: I don't wish to talk about myself at a higher level. People wouldn't understand it.
TIME: What are the aliens after?
Li: The aliens use many methods to keep people from freeing themselves from manipulation. They make earthlings have wars and conflicts, and develop weapons using science, which makes mankind more dependent on advanced science and technology. In this way, the aliens will be able to introduce their stuff and make the preparations for replacing human beings. The military industry leads other industries such as computers and electronics.
TIME: But what is the alien purpose?
Li: The human body is the most perfect in the universe. It is the most perfect form. The aliens want the human body.
TIME: What do aliens look like?
Li: Some look similar to human beings. U.S. technology has already detected some aliens. The difference between aliens can be quite enormous.
TIME: Can you describe it?
Li: You don't want to have that kind of thought in your mind.
TIME: Describe them anyway.
Li: One type looks like a human, but has a nose that is made of bone. Others look like ghosts. At first they thought that I was trying to help them. Now they now that I am sweeping them away.,
Obviously he was inspired by The Alien, Man In Black, Species, and Matrix.
Re:Falun Gong (Score:2)
Anything can cause harm if done or used improperly.
When will the Chinese goverment learn... (Score:3, Insightful)
They really need a FOX News affiliate over there to convince them that up is really down...
The filtering I want China to implement... (Score:2)
Can we get the software they're using to bock ads? (Score:2)
"Play nice with the other children or POOF! No one will ever be able to visit your site again."
Sacred Cows (Score:3, Interesting)
Something that scares me. (Score:2, Insightful)
China should stop censoring... (Score:3, Insightful)
It would be so much better if China wouldn't censor all this crap. Sure, their retarded Communist government will fall apart within a decade, but so what? A Republic that is based on human freedom is going to be so much better for the world, not only because individuals will enjoy more freedoms, but also because the Chinese currency will become subject to the same market forces as other currencies around the world, which will increase the Chinese standard of living to a significantly higher level than it currently is.
FREE TIBET, and TAIWAN IS A NATION! (Score:2, Funny)
(Somewhere in China)
Nerd: "HEY Where did Slashdot go?"
Official: "No such thing, No Slashdot! now come with me to slave labor prison work camp, where we make toxic toys for American children!"
Chinese surfing emulator? (Score:2, Funny)
Some kind of chinese proxy maybe that follows the rules from the chinese goverment?
P.S Yep, it is in our blood. If we're not oppressed, than we have to know what it is like.
Re:Chinese surfing emulator? (Score:2)
IP 218.28.135.196:8080
Tried others too, with following results:
61.233.144.194:80
www.freetibet.org works. Surprise.
An attempt to access www.tibet.com (The Official Webpage of Tibet's Government in Exile). Result: connection reset. After this, a reset connection after attempting to connect _any_ page. Must be a temporary ban.
202.103.252.86:3128
More careful this time; attempt www.cnn.com first. It works.
www.bbc.co.uk works, as does www.freetibet.org.
www.ti
Heh (Score:2)
You mean like the entire economic policy of the Chinese government for the last 15 years:)?
The high pitched noise you hear is Marx is spinning in his grave because he heard how present day China represents the fulfillment of his vision for a workers' paradise:)
Groklaw (!?) censored in China (Score:2)
Weird that they would consider Groklaw subversive, given that Darl says it's a Pinko site.
L2TP In China (Score:2, Informative)
Okay... 100% Access Back Open Again
Oops! Nooooooooooo They Blocked Port 1701!
Is Gmail POP access blocked? (Score:2, Interesting)
Funny wording.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Is there such a thing as a "private citizen" in the People's Republic?
Re:Why doesn't china just Ban the internet (Score:2, Interesting)
Its a means to control the people without polarizing them and without causing a revolt.
Don't be stupid (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Why doesn't china just Ban the internet (Score:2, Insightful)
China has to balance its modernizing cities and urban population with its authoritarian communism. It's a fine line. I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying I understand.
Re:Why doesn't china just Ban the internet (Score:4, Insightful)
Hmm...
Mod down or comment?
Mod down or comment?
Commenting!
Because... it would affect their economic growth?
Re:Why doesn't china just Ban the internet (Score:2)
Re:Why doesn't china just Ban the internet (Score:2)
He probably meant it as an honest question. I wish I had been a little nicer about it.
Re:Why doesn't china just Ban the internet (Score:2)
Because (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd argue it's not all bad, in that capitalism and freedom aren't something people just know how to deal with inherantly. For two good examples see Russia and Iraq.
In Russia, the country basically had capitalism thrust on them in a very short time. It has lead to chaos, massive economic problems, and rampant crime. The people didn't know hoe to set up a functioning capitalism, nobody told them how. Forever the state, (receantly communists, before that aristocracy) had told them what to do and how to do it, now there was nothing. Russia is STILL coping with these problems, and there isn't an end in sight.
In Iraq the people had freedom thrust on them in a very short time. They went from fearing being killed for pissing off the government in any way to being free to do nearly anything they wanted. The problem is that freedom has to have some limits in society. Well there are some, like the insurgents, that freedom means they should be free to impose their will on others, through violence if they want.
Now don't get me wrong, I certianly don't support China's human rights abuses or anything like that, but just because they aren't going full bore for free information and markets isn't necessiarly a bad thing. Rapid transitions can be a dangerous thing and cause all kinds of problems.
So China knows the Internet and it's free flow of information is a good thing, however at this point they don't want it to be completely unrestricted, for better or worse.
Re:Because (Score:2)
Sounds a lot like DRM. :)
Re:Because (Score:2)
Easy to say (Score:2)
In the case of the middle east, it's further confounded by religious leaders who hold very strong sway. Many believe that it is necessary to implement a harsh religious law to save people from themselves, that freedom in this life leads to torment in the next. So the
Re:Because (Score:2)
(a) Doesn't matter, you can't argue with the truth*.
(b) Doesn't matter, you can't argue with the truth*.
(c) Doesn't matter, you can't argue with the truth*.
(d) Doesn't matter, you can't argue with the truth*.
Thanks for listening.
* Unless you enjoy being wrong.
Re:Why doesn't china just Ban the internet (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why doesn't china just Ban the internet (Score:2)
They have a population large enough to support it, and that way, if there's stuff they don't like, they have someone to drag out of his bed and murder in front of his children in the middle of the night.
This is what I was thinking. France had their own internet before anyone else. I believe it was government owned. People used it for purposes the government approved, you could find out what w
Re:But it's OK (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:But it's OK (Score:3, Interesting)
A small, efficient, uncorrupt, open minded country like the Netherlands or something seems like a much better bet.
Re:But it's OK (Score:2)
Right now, the USA is IT, power-wise. Both the EU and China have the potential to catch up rapidly, and maybe India eventually. Presently, the EU would probably be the most trustworthy of the lot, though that may not remain so for long.
Potentially power could be exercised via the UN, which would allow people from small countries to
Not surprising (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:But it's OK (Score:2, Insightful)
Ever wondered why the rest of the world treats the US as a threat? It's because when Americans get in a group known as 'Government', they become obsessive patriots who cannot see beyond the US borders and the "might" of the "god-blessed stars and stripes" of the "noble country" that is the USA.
The fear is perfectly logical, no other country thinks they have the right to rule the world, and no other country to my knowledge has such a b
Re: (Score:2)
Re:But it's OK (Score:2)
Whatever happened to reasoned thought? I don't support China violating the rights of its citizens but I saturation bombing and puppet revolutions as a longterm solution to a problem either
Yes, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
One should not become so cynical as to completely forget the good things about our form of government and the freedoms it provides. There are legitimate concerns regarding control of some information (trade secrets, confidential personal data, illegal material, national security concerns, etc.). The oft promulgated wo
Re:When information is made illegal (Score:2)
Re:Alternaitve headline. (Score:2)
Re:Communism Misunderstood (Score:2)