China Blocks Google.com, Gmail, Maps and More During 18th Party Congress 129
DavidGilbert99 writes "In an extraordinary move, the Chinese authorities have blocked access to Google.com, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Docs, and many more Google services as the Communist Party of China holds the 18th Party Congress. The blocking of these sites was reported by Chinese web monitoring site GreatFire.org, which said, 'Never before have so many people been affected by a decision to block a website.' The latest move in a long line of disputes between the Chinese government and Google, it is unclear yet whether this denial will be temporary (like a similar one in 2010) or permanent."
Re:screw 'em, then, let them be ignorant (Score:5, Interesting)
How exactly blocking Gmail et al. would make China become backward?
I mean, it is a fair question.
Re:Google China (Score:3, Interesting)
I am not living in China, But I am a chinese and a member of the communist party. I think it is suck. I do not understand what are we fear for ?
Re:Chinese Censorship Is Not Nerd News (Score:2, Interesting)
I am an American of Italian decent living in China. I am also an engineer and an attorney.
I find it interesting how many people who have never been to China often claim China is a police state. Yes, China censors the Internet, but that is because a large portion of the populace is uneducated and easily manipulated. Democracy is very limited in China, but that again relates to the low level of education for peasants in China who if allowed to vote would choose an incompetent government. On the other side, as long as you do not actively protest against the government, China is an incredibly free place to live: more free than the USA has been in 50 years.
China is incredibly safe. In my 10+ years in China I have never been in a situation where I thought the street I was on was dangerous; I cannot say the same about Philadelphia, Baltimore or Washington DC. There are no arrests for public intoxication in China. Period. It is nearly impossible to be arrested for disorderly conduct in China. And if you do something wrong and apologize chances are 9 times out of 10 the police will let you off with a warning.
So yea, in the USA we have these great laws which allow us to march in Washington DC but then we have a government which spends more than it takes in, raises taxes and burdens our economy with high debt. Our government is actively enslaving our children by saddling them with a debt in the future to please curry favor with voters today. Watch during the next four years as the economy in China continues to thrive while the economy in the USA continues to crash. Then tell me which country is more free.