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Censorship

Yahoo Confirms Beijing Blocking Flickr 163

Posted by CmdrTaco from the well-isn't-this-awkward dept.
slashthedot writes "In another instance of censorship against websites about anything anti-establishment in China, Flickr, popular among a growing class of digital photo enthusiasts in the world's second-largest Internet market, has not shown photos to users in mainland China since last week, amid rumors Beijing took action after images of the Tiananmen massacre in early June 1989 were posted. "It is our understanding that Flickr users in China are not able to see images on Flickr, and we have confirmed that this is not a technical issue on our end," a spokeswoman for Yahoo Hong Kong said in an email in response to a Reuters inquiry."
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Yahoo Confirms Beijing Blocking Flickr More

Yahoo Confirms Beijing Blocking Flickr

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  • We knew this a while ago, but still, whenever I hear about my dear Internets being censored, it makes me sick.

    • Re:Old News... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MightyMartian ( 840721 ) on Wednesday June 13, 2007 @11:26AM (#19492779) Journal
      Nothing like a country terrified of its own citizens, or the companies out of the supposed Free World who won't pull the plug to prevent their technologies from being used by these kinds of pathetic cowards. It's alright, though. Investors are making money, so fuck liberty.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by mypalmike ( 454265 )
        the companies out of the supposed Free World who won't pull the plug to prevent their technologies from being used by these kinds of pathetic cowards

        Filtering IP addresses is hardly the cutting edge of technology. Which companies are you referring to?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Cutriss ( 262920 )
          Not that I would consider Flickr to be "cutting edge of technology"...but I think the poster may be indicating that he thinks Yahoo should be blocking China, not the other way around.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by dslbrian ( 318993 )

          Filtering IP addresses is hardly the cutting edge of technology. Which companies are you referring to?

          He's probably referring to Cisco and such. What, do you think the Chinese gov't designed and built their network and censor infrastructure themselves? Of course not, they had US companies who value dollars over human rights [un.org] (specifically Article 19) to build it for them.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Proteus ( 1926 )

        Nothing like a country terrified of its own citizens
        Indeed, I wish it were more often the case that the government feared its people. Unfortunately most regimes (including, increasingly, those of the First World) have the opposite problem.
        • I think a government which does not fear the people does not fear them expressing themselves, or fear them learning other points of view. No government, no matter how liberalized, could every completely rid itself of this, but even an executive clearly so derisive of liberties like the Bush Administration can do little more than publicly moan when the New York Times publishes damning stories.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Proteus ( 1926 )
            And to me, a government which does not fear its people has already stripped them of any power they have over the government. I don't think the Chinese government fears its people -- rather, I think it wants to protect them. That, to me, is far scarier. The logic seems to go like this:

            "If the people knew what happened in Tienanmen Square, their anger might cause them to revolt. The action would be ultimately fruitless, and we would be forced to kill a great many people. Therefore, it is in the people's

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by billysara ( 264 )
      Flickr itself is hardly free from censorship problems either...

      http://www.flickr.com/photos/theunholytrinity/5439 96259/ [flickr.com]

  • Forgive my ignorance (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Pojut ( 1027544 ) on Wednesday June 13, 2007 @11:26AM (#19492791) Homepage
    But I have never used Flickr...is it owned or partially owned by Yahoo?

    Only reason I ask is why would Yahoo be saying it isn't something technicaly on their end unless they own/run it...

  • China Evil or Not (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jshriverWVU ( 810740 ) on Wednesday June 13, 2007 @11:31AM (#19492849)
    I keep hearing to many Pro's Con's about China. On one side you have the people bashing the government for it's internet filter system. Then on the other side I hear about how China is the new super power, with the greatest economy growth and potential. Even where I live (semi-major city) the news is ridden with (Businesses start deals with China, China Buying out more than Japan during hte 80's, China best business partner, Outsource to China, China Could Save local economy, etc, etc). Even the local college have signs "China #1 growth market, succeed in the future take Chinese 1 this semester" So is China Evil or Not?

    • Re:China Evil or Not (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 13, 2007 @11:38AM (#19492971)
      That is kind of like asking if the US is evil or not. The answer is both yes and no.
      • My original post wasn't really to get a black/white answer. More to spark discussion. Because over the past 2 years I've read countless "China Filter" posts. It's a fact, so what's next? What I find more interesting is what are the real pro's con's of China. I'm a realist, and I know just like many countries tried to cut deals with the US because we were the superpower, China is quickly replacing us. Is it really true, it could be useful to learn Chinese, especially if you're in a technology or business rel

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      You'll find it useful to shed yourself of your current worldview as soon as you can. Start dividing things up differently. What does the word "China" even mean, and does it make sense to prescribe the words "good" or "evil" to it? What does "good" and "evil" even mean? Stop thinking about things in absolutes, and realize that all judgements you come to are done through your own lens. Value judgements are increasingingly arbitrary. Also, everytime you use the word "or", ask yourself if you're creating
    • Wow. Just wow.

    • Re:China Evil or Not (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Pantero Blanco ( 792776 ) on Wednesday June 13, 2007 @11:49AM (#19493169)
      Being a superpower with a great economy and being evil aren't even close to mutually exclusive.

      At any rate, if you're judging countries by the same standards as you judge people, all or nearly all of them lean towards evil. The few that are very strong tend to oppress the rest, and those aren't really "good". They just don't have claws.

    • AC on purpose (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I'm dismayed that everything for us in the US (and the western world) has to always be boiled down a simple question of either good or evil. These sorts of simplifications then become the basis of policy for a broader audience even though they neglect to see the subtleties in an entity as massive as a country. So to answer your question... China is no more or less evil than the United States is evil. We just tend to be evil in different ways. How you weigh those differences is based upon your nationality,

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by operagost ( 62405 )
        Equating the brutal murder of citizens in a peaceful protest with some of the recent faux pas of the US government is not going to get you very far in a debate. Neither will your bizarre view of history-- as if the previous thousands of years of moral philosophy before 1 AD didn't exist! Ever hear of the Ten Commandments, Hammurabi's Code, or any Greek philosophers? Start reading! [wikipedia.org]

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rtechie ( 244489 )

        China is no more or less evil than the United States is evil.

        Um, no. There is no moral equivalence between the United States and China. China is a vicious totalitarian state. No formal political dissent is tolerated (opposition parties, for example) by the state. There is no freedom of religion, all religions must have state-approved doctrine and are closely monitored. There is no freedom of expression or press in China. All media is state-run and heavily controlled, academic criticism is stifled (through imprisonment and murder), and any public protest is violently

    • Hey, here's a neat idea. Why not stop thinking about people, places, and things in terms of "good" and "evil"? Last I checked, the world wasn't an old west novel or a space opera, despite what your media or politicians might tell you.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by gstoddart ( 321705 )

      So is China Evil or Not?

      China, the country, is by no means evil.

      The political leaders of China have some policies which border on evil, or at least not very nice as it can be quite repressive and the like.

      The individual people in China are probably, on balance, rather quite nice, hard-working people.

      China, as an economy, can't be ignored, no matter your stance on the behaviour of their government. It's simply too big, and too significant.

      Tremendous amounts of manufacturing take place in China of products d

    • The Chinese leadership are obnoxious in many ways. But under their leadership, literally hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of abject poverty. Even if only a small proportion of that is due to their actions, it is not a minor matter. Rural China used to be as poor as sub-Saharan Africa. Anyone who could give that region Chinese growth rates would be thought a miracle worker. It may be easier and more comfortable to think in terms of black and white, there are many things to balance aga

      • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Rural China used to be as poor as sub-Saharan Africa.

        Used to be? No. Still is. And yes, I have been there.
    • This is precisely the issue. When it comes to standing up for human rights, the right amound of money (rephrased as a 'growth market') causes these issues to become mute.

      That being said, the best strategy for empowering the Chinese people is to begin with economic development and outside involvement in their economic affairs. In time, this censorship will begin to fail.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Profound ( 50789 )
      Yes - China is just as totalitarian as the Soviets ever were... but for some reason we like them.

      I guess if the Soviets had sold us cheap electronics instead of getting into space first there would have been no cold war. Silly Ruskies!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rtechie ( 244489 )

      with the greatest economy growth and potential.

      How does "making lots of money" translate to "good"? Certainly economic development in China is "good" for the Chinese people in the sense that it's pulling some of them out of the abject poverty caused by the PRC. Of course, this same economic development is further entrenching the people in power who caused the hardship to begin with. So the relatively good economy is itself a double-edged sword.

      Fundamentally, the People's Republic of China is an evil state run by evil men. Not as evil as North Korea, bu

  • will people post the pictures all over in a rebellion, a la AACS? or will all the image providers cave a la google.cn, where an image search for tiananmen massacre returns pictures of puppies and gerbils [google.cn]...?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by VWJedi ( 972839 )

      will people post the pictures all over in a rebellion, a la AACS?

      What's the worst that happens if publish the AACS key? You get sued? And even that is unlikely.

      Discuss Tiananmen Square and post pictures in China? I suspect you'll suffer a much worse fate.

      • it wasn't digg or slashdot which posted the AACS key, but individuals who would probably *not* get sued. likewise, i wouldn't expect the chinese to post the pics, but people like you and me, individuals who would probably *not* face worse fates....

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by VWJedi ( 972839 )

          likewise, i wouldn't expect the chinese to post the pics, but people like you and me, individuals who would probably *not* face worse fates....

          Definition of rebellion [m-w.com]:

          1 : opposition to one in authority or dominance
          2 a : open, armed, and usually unsuccessful defiance of or resistance to an established government b : an instance of such defiance or resistance

          I don't think I can rebel against something that is not "in authority or dominance" over me. I may, however, be able to sabotage [m-w.com] or subvert [m-w.com] it.

  • Who are we to say that our way of life is better? Don't we have rising illiteracy, crime-ridden cities, corrupt politicians, rapacious corporations and wars we don't believe in killing bucketloads of civilians?

    Let's be tolerant of other points of view, please! (There may be a large cynical but friendly emoticon attached to this message. YMMV, but TMTOWTDI.)
    • Sorry, but no - I won't be tolerant of repression.

      • I second that. The question now is: how long will the Chinese continue to put up with repression?

      • Define repression? Talking about people who are homeless and hungry, or children in the street hungry, sick, dieing, living off scraps found in dumpsters, people rummaging through landfills, eating fish from polluted streams/ponds/rivers because they can't afford otherwise? Where does this sound like? Try West Virginia, that's where I grew up and I've seen all of this.

        So it's not just isolated to China. I agree some of the things going on in China are horrible. But I'm tired of people being elitist (not y

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by MightyYar ( 622222 )
          Both poverty and repression are bad things, but that doesn't mean that you can't take action against one without first correcting the other. I have no problem simultaneously helping the rural poor and fighting overseas repression. I also have no problem with someone who has decided to attack one and not the other for whatever personal reason they have.
        • Elsewhere you were asking people to debate "not in black and white terms" whether China is evil or not, but it appears obvious that you had already made up your mind so why troll for opinions if you've already found the National Socialist system of China (aka Chinazism) worthy of your admiration?

          Germany was in absolute shambles after WW1 with scores of people dieing from starvation etc. so you could also argue that by grabbing power in early 1930s and establishing a national socialist dictatorship (aka n

    • Who are we to say that our way of life is better?


      et's be tolerant of other points of view, please



      We are free to say what we want, and if we dont like other's POV, we can say it.
      Thats why our way of life is better!

    • Re:Their country, their choice (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MightyMartian ( 840721 ) on Wednesday June 13, 2007 @11:57AM (#19493337) Journal
      If the Chinese people truly want to live under technocratic tyrants, then so be it. What I don't like is Western companies, who blossomed in an environment of political liberties who happily shed any notion of those liberties to make a buck. If that's what the Chinese want, then they shouldn't get help from Google and Microsoft, and those companies should be fined substantial amounts of money every time they help the Chinese authorities jail someone. Let China develop their own tools of repression. Why the fuck should we let Cisco do it for them?

      • If the Chinese people truly want to live under technocratic tyrants, then so be it.

        By and large, they don't - but when they try to demonstrate (or these days riot) they are suppressed with the military. People in power do not let go of power easily. The only thing the people of China can do is either wait for the powers that be to fall into disarray (which will eventually happen), or for outside forces to force change (which is not currently happening). I think that the event that will change China is the next economic recession or depression. I don't think that China can exist in its pr

        • What I'm responding to is the standard apologetic "They think differently than we do, so we shouldn't bother them". I personally do not accept this, though I do realize that Chinese society has a very long history of this sort of social ordering (I mean, whether or not the Communists like Confucius, they have, in fact, largely modelled the justifications for they're power upon that model, just going to show that what is new is, in fact, old again).
          • Europeans have a history of repression, too. It's only this recent, post-colonial period that has brought this concept of individual freedom. Even then, it is only in the last 100 years that women have been a part of it.

            I accept that I am being somewhat radical and idealistic by judging others by my minimum standard of human rights, but I certainly won't back off.

            • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

              by MightyMartian ( 840721 )
              I'm not denying that there have been repressions and abuses in the West, and that we're probably not done rooting them out either. However, there is a difference in how Western and Chinese society are oriented that go back some way. While I think notions like "Anglo-Saxon freedoms" have been substantially overstated over the last hundred years or so, I think there is something to the notion of the non-monolithic society and its origins in Germanic tribal law.
              • But you can have a big, strong paternalistic government and still make it accountable for it's actions. Accountability is the only way to be certain that the best interests of the people will be looked out for. Just because the Chinese have a different view of government doesn't mean that there aren't Chinese leaders who are corrupt and willing to exploit this to their own benefit.

                I get where you are coming from, though... the Chinese will always have a different government than we do - the culture is very
        • If the Chinese people truly want to live under technocratic tyrants, then so be it.

          This is a delicate issue. Say you were born 20 years ago in China. Only if you had very rich parents or were smart enough to get some grants you would be able to leave the place and see something else. Still, it will always be the country you grew up in, your friends live there, your family of course. My objection to the GP's statement is that he connects the country's politics to the people who live in it. This doesn't mak

      • Because companies like Google and Microsoft are not "Western" companies anymore ever since they became public. I'm sure China (govt. + people) own a substantial part of such companies (either directly or through other instruments like mutual funds).

    • Re:Their country, their choice (Score:4, Informative)

      by Pantero Blanco ( 792776 ) on Wednesday June 13, 2007 @12:04PM (#19493455)
      "Their country, their choice" doesn't work when, for many of them, it's neither.

      Who are we to say that our way of life is better? Don't we have rising illiteracy, crime-ridden cities, corrupt politicians, rapacious corporations and wars we don't believe in killing bucketloads of civilians?

      They have rampant illiteracy, crime-ridden cities, corrupt politicians, (the same) rapacious corporations, tens of millions of intentionally murdered civilians shoved under the rug, and censorship that dwarfs the crap the FCC tries to pull.
    • the irony is that, were you to post that in china, about china, you would be censored

      the west is better simply because you can be critical and have contrarian views of the west, in the west

      in other words, i disagree with what you just said, but i support your right to say it

      were i in power in china, i could simply shut you down, shut you up

      that's superior? no, that's clearly inferior. that a chinese can't criticize his system is clearly inferior and wrong. 100%. no doubt

      now if you chose to reply to my comme

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Dude, I am in China right now. Trust me: our US way of life is better. All the college educated people I talk to, a population that is growing and growing, say things like "I never watch the news because I don't believe it is true" they buy short wave radios to get the BBC, etc. The media they watch is US media (they can tell you all about Friends, Lost, Sex in the City, you name it), they try very hard to emulate western culture. Their goal is a western standard of living. You have no idea how much poverty

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by slapout ( 93640 )
      "Who are we to say that our way of life is better?"

      I say our way is better. Some things are just better. A fork IS better than chopsticks.
    • Their (the Chinese people's) country, their choice?

      If the Chinese voluntarily wish to have dictatorship as their preferred form of government (forgetting the rights of the Chinese "political minorities" for the moment; I'm not talking about the 60-odd ethnic "minorities" aka former nations China has invaded and largely assimilated over the aeons) it would be hard to argue with their choice.

      However it is not a choice the Chinese are either allowed to make (it's either Communist Party rule or prison/dea

  • Seems logical (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Dekortage ( 697532 ) on Wednesday June 13, 2007 @11:46AM (#19493091) Homepage

    For some time now, China has been blocking [wikipedia.org] sites [wikipedia.org] like BBC News, CBS News, Wikipedia, WordPress, LiveJournal, U.S. Department of State, etc. I am surprised Slashdot is not on the list, bunch of freedom-loving Linux-huggers that we are.

  • Wow, I feel bad for the developers who spent time incorporating Traditional Chinese into flickr. now no one who speaks it will see the site. Terrible timing!

    http://blog.flickr.com/en/2007/06/12/flickr-intern ational-launch/ [flickr.com]

  • So does the Chinese government own all the ISP's in China? Or how exactly can they just filter out any content from any website?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Knara ( 9377 )
      AFAIK, they own all the network infrastructure, so it's a trivial task to set up IP filtering on the incoming/outgoing routers for the country.
      • There not blocking the site though, just the images.. seems like quite a task to me.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Knara ( 9377 )
          Well, I don't know exactly how the Flickr system is set up, but I imagine if they pull from an image server (or 10) they could just block the IPs of the image servers. Flickr still works, but the images don't load.

  • Yahoo shouldn't mind. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Rob T Firefly ( 844560 ) on Wednesday June 13, 2007 @11:55AM (#19493297) Homepage Journal
    Yahoo has often said it's better to provide the Chinese partial content rather than none at all. Therefore, shouldn't they be perfectly happy that Chinese users are at least seeing the big white webpage with some text scattered around a broken-JPEG icon, rather than no Flickr at all?
  • Tiananmen Square: The PRC's worst-kept secret.

    • Tiananmen Square: The PRC's worst-kept secret.

      They don't really care if we know about it.

      They just don't want their own people to know about it. They've done a pretty good job of making the public ignorant about it in their own country -- many of them have no idea it ever happened.

      Cheers

      • Re:Ah, yes (Score:4, Informative)

        by HungWeiLo ( 250320 ) on Wednesday June 13, 2007 @02:29PM (#19495843)
        many of them have no idea it ever happened

        That's a bit simplistic, don't you think?

        I've had work meetings/visits to Beijing and other parts of China. Not only have I not met anyone who has not heard of it, I've met coworkers who openly tell me that they were at the protests themselves when they were at university.

        People there just don't care because they're too busy making money.

  • The Moral Optimum ? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by genmax ( 990012 )
    Criticising Google and Yahoo for capitulating to the Chinese govt. seems to be "the thing" to do on Slashdot these days. But let's see if it is indeed clear what the "right" thing is here.

    1. Can we really blame Google and Yahoo for following the law of the land ? What gives an American (or any foreign) company the right to decide which laws are fair in China ? Even democratic countries have different opinions on what exactly freedom of speech is. Should google decide whether it agrees with German holocaust-
    • The way I see it, if your company wants to start activities in another country, it has two choices: either respect their laws or keep out of there. So, if Google China wants to actually exist, it'll need to put up with whatever laws affect Chinese corporations. I would *like* Western enterpreneurs not to help an oppressive gov't like China's, but at the same time I don't want any laws preventing them from doing so. Then again, if I had the chance to make a ton of money by selling stuff to the Chinese, what

    • 1. Can we really blame Google and Yahoo for following the law of the land ? What gives an American (or any foreign) company the right to decide which laws are fair in China ? Even democratic countries have different opinions on what exactly freedom of speech is. Should google decide whether it agrees with German holocaust-denial laws, or Indian laws against whipping up religious hate ? Also, isn't it a bit arrogant to assume that American laws are the moral optimum ? Shouldn't Google also refuse to honour D

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Taevin ( 850923 ) *

      Also, isn't it a bit arrogant to assume that American laws are the moral optimum ?

      Probably, although it wouldn't be a bad position to start from seeing as how the success of our system as at least inspired (and been inspired) by others throughout the world and history. Fortunately we don't have to worry about whether they are American ideals or not because they are also the ideals of the United Nations (which includes China). I suggest you read through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [un.org]. You'll f

  • If you were not going to like them posted, (Score:4, Insightful)

    by unity100 ( 970058 ) on Wednesday June 13, 2007 @12:06PM (#19493493) Homepage Journal
    you should NOT have done it.

    people will be seeing what crap you "people's" republic have pulled on people despite your muzzling attempts. get over with it, "party".

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mgblst ( 80109 )
      Does this argument even work for your kids? I doubt it.

      You seem to be a bit deluded, the Chinese government are not worried. They don't mind them being posted, as long as the people in China won't see them, and they have control over that. The fact is that most people inside China have no idea what went on.

      But is that really any different to the Western nations, do most people have any idea about the Gonzalez-Attorney general filings. We are just looking at 2 different ways of doing the same thing. China tr

      • They don't mind them being posted, as long as the people in China won't see them, and they have control over that.


        do they. with countless proxy services which increase exponentially in numbers, other tunneling technologies and such which surfers use even without knowing they use them ...

  • Massacre? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Bullfish ( 858648 ) on Wednesday June 13, 2007 @12:18PM (#19493689)
    There was no massacre in the square. That is just a theory like evolution. Many say it was a rave by drunk students. They don't know what happened to their friends because they were drunk. Pay no attention to the lies! Especially since now HD-DVD players that cost $20 will come soon due to the efficiencies of Chinese labor! You want this, and to help your ailing relatives, a new crop of prisoners are eager to repent for their crimes by offering their organs to you and yours at very low cost.

    "The last capitalist we hang shall be the one who sold us the rope." - Karl Marx
  • So they say Flickr was disconnected because images of Tiananmen Square were posted. Who knows if it were even a Chinese national who posted them? Now I'm thinking, we could have us some fun, and help to highlight Chinese net censorship at the same time.

    Post pictures of Tiananmen Square EVERYWHERE. Upload photos to Flickr, send video to Youtube and its 100 clones, post accounts on blogs, news sites etc. Let's see them disconnect their populace site-by-site until there's nothing left. Only then might it prom
  • Yahoo sucked up to the Chinese government by ratting out a journalist [wikipedia.org]. Fat lot of good that did them. Instead the Chinese give them a nice ole' kick in the crotch.
  • I wonder if it is...since it posts articles like this?

  • true. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Umami ( 672913 )
    I was in Beijing on Saturday. Flickr was in fact inaccessible. Right now, China is undergoing Olympics Madness. Particularly in Beijing, they have stores dedicated to Olympics schwag with T-shirts, toys, pencils, bags, you name it. There are posters, TV advertisements and billboards plastering the entire country. China is racing to get ready for the impending event. The week before I arrived, they installed small ratings boxes at immigration, with four lit buttons showing faces ranging from smiling to
  • Right now, it would take too much processing power/time to review all the information being conveyed in picture form. Unlike Carnivore or whatever else the FBI and NSA are using to illegally spy on American's text communication, pictures aren't so easy to trace automagically.

    Not that I agree with the censorship, but if you're going to run your society that way, you've just taken care of a major leak in individuals ability to communicate on the sly.

  • Good. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by m0nkyman ( 7101 ) on Wednesday June 13, 2007 @01:24PM (#19494895) Homepage Journal
    As always, I'm happier when the Chinese are blocking things than when the companies self censor....

  • Quantum networks (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Phoenix666 ( 184391 )
    Every time the issue of internet censorship comes up on /., I think of the experiments they've done sending quantumly-entangled particles across some distance X, trapping them locally, and then pinging them to communicate faster than the speed of light. Would it be possible to create a network of quantumly-entangled particles that don't subsequently rely on optical fiber to transmit information, and which can't be blocked, jammed, surveilled, or otherwise censored?

    The arms race toward quantum encryption wo

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by kebes ( 861706 )

      I think of the experiments they've done sending quantumly-entangled particles across some distance X, trapping them locally, and then pinging them to communicate faster than the speed of light.

      You've mis-understood those experiments. Quantum entanglement establishes instantaneous correlations between distant particles, but you cannot use this to communicate information (the 'wavefunction collapse' is random). There is no way to transmit information faster than the speed of light (according to modern relat

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