We’ve discussed this issue previously. I’m not entirely sure who is supposed to be fooled by this, but it makes good comedy. What’s next, the US denying its citizens are fat, lazy, and poorly educated?!
smh.com.au – November 9, 2006:
The Chinese government said Wednesday that accusations by a press freedom group that it was one of the worst culprits of systematic online censorship were “groundless” and that its citizens could freely access the Internet.
China was one of 13 countries singled out by Reporters Without Borders in a 24-hour online protest against Internet censorship. The others were: Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
“We find these accusations groundless,” said an officer at the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson’s office who declined to be named according to department policy.
“The Chinese enjoy free access to the Internet and they can have the information they need. Currently, the information the Chinese people get is far more than before the introduction of the Internet in this country.”
Right, and neocon “conservatives” are compassionate and well grounded in reality. Got it.
What bothers me most here is the picture. It is just, you know, wrong on so many levels…
What do you expect from a government that sell organs to wealthy westerners from otherwise “healthy” prisoners.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4921116.stm
Ok China, we believe you now and are so sorry for doubting you.
….GROUP HUG !!!!
well thankfully the american electorate woke up and voted to change the balance of power in congress! they are in the process of crafting a system of citizen surveillance and orchestrating wholesale repeal of the u.s. constitution and we could easily wind up with a regime eerily similar in power to the one in china that we all like to lambaste as the antithesis of freedom.
will the dem’s have the balls to repeal the creepier provisions of the patriot act? only time will tell.
And yet isnt google already censoring here in the US?
Isnt this what Internet II is all about? Maybe I am wrong. I would like to know.
Google does not equal USA. Use another search engine.
6. True, but it does have ties with US Govt. CIA in particular. I will use another search engine, but I will miss google.
http://weblog.infoworld.com/techwatch/archives/008658.html
Why doesn’t someone sit in front of a computer and search for “falun gong”|”tiananmen square” and then compare the results to what you would get in another country.
Oddly, we’ve yet to been hindered by this block at my company’s office in Beijing. Not saying it isn’t in place, but its scale may be a bit blown out of proportion.
James: Intersesting. Perhaps you could ask them to do what #8 suggests. It would be a good experiment. Maybe risky?
“Uzbekistan”…assholes.
Hey SN, I take offense to that, I’m only 2-out-of-3!
#10 – Mark, we (as in Americans visiting over there) have done the “Tiananmen square” search. The order of the returned values is vastly different, and there are some things that aren’t directly returned, but the pages (for the most part) can be accessed.
From my take (via conversations with our coworkers from Beijing who are visiting America), they’re more worried about having their search history looked at than what they’ve looked at specifically. They’re aware that the Government is watching them, but to what degree is unknown.
12 they’re more worried about having their search history looked at than what they’ve looked at specifically.
Interesting.
Could they have changed tactics, after the bad publicity they received over search-engine consorship?
I wonder if they have shifted from blocking sites and searches to tracking who is using them?
It would allow them to make the easily verifiable claim that they are not blocking…
12 They’re aware that the Government is watching them, but to what degree is unknown.
I re-read the CSM article I posted in the previous thread, and the last sentence has a diffferent meaning to me – now.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0909/p01s03-woap.html
“We understand that the Internet is not a safe space,” says a cofounder of a Beijing Internet company. “We all have to be careful.”
I thought it interesting that Egypt and the Saudi’s are named. More stuff I didn’t know about that area. The others could be expected based on past news stories which, is about all I have to go on…I’m fat, lazy and poorly educated after all….but it’s not my fault !!
Just out of curiosity, I wonder if any posters here at DU have ever thought twice about the future ramifications of what they post here or other blogs, unless, of course, its pro-government. I for one have, and I am not particularly paranoid.
#7 if you want CIA-free Google, try Scroogle, or my current fave IXquick
#8 my last trip to China I was able to find any damning anti-China news I wanted (I was curious, so I searched exactly the terms you suggested, and others about Tibet and Taiwan). I suspect access in a Western hotel is different than at the internet cafe, but would be curious to know if anyone has checked that out.
16. Maybe what James said was true, a visitor need not worry, but a resident, ah, something else indeed. Maybe here also?
An addition to Miranda:
“Everything you blog can and will be held against you in a court of law.”
Damn, there I go again. Honey, would you get the door?
GD’s
16 I suspect access in a Western hotel is different than at the internet cafe, but would be curious to know if anyone has checked that out.
Made me think of James’
12 (as in Americans visiting over there)
Just for clarification: In what language(s) were you doing the searches?
I’m curious if an English-based search would give different results than one in Mandarin, or Cantonese.
Mike, I was searching in English, so don’t know what results a Mandarin search would yield, but it certainly occurred to me that the muzzle on information is essentially hopeless when the whole latest version of the internets was available at the Hyatt. Of course I didn’t print out and hand out copies on the street either.
I think the girl in the picture is Japanese!
-suspect access in a Western hotel is different than at the internet cafe, but would be curious to know if anyone has checked that out.-
Did both and found no difference other than price.
The only thing that needs to be censored is the uniform that chick in the pic is wearing… TAKE IT OFF!!
#20 I know, but it was the best I could find.
#23 – You guys really find funny images for the different stories. 🙂
– – –
Some of these countries have been best buddies in War on terror… Perhaps they can offer Bush, Rummy, Condi and Cheney asylum?
#15 – The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (R) approves everything I post, so I’m safe. The only thing I think you liberals really have to be worried about, these days, is child pornograpy. One false step in what is considered ‘safe and legal’ pornograpy could accidently lead you to child porn.
(And if you can’t tell I’m joking, sell your computer and get off the Internet. You don’t belong here.)
#18 – Great question, and something I forgot about. English searches were what I was referencing, and our Beijing counterparts thought it was really funny… untill we started asking “How do you spell ‘square’ in Chinese?”. Those searches, in Chinese, appeared to pull up different… and more limited… results.
18 …and our Beijing counterparts thought it was really funny… untill we started asking “How do you spell ’square’ in Chinese?”
Since the governament is only concerned with their own citizens getting outside information – and it would be pointless to block outsider’s access to same, as long as said outsiders don’t distribute it – I was wondering if they used language as a “filter” for any blocks/censoring.
18Those searches, in Chinese, appeared to pull up different… and more limited… results.
So the question is: Are those differences due to the mandated limits mentioned in previous news coverage, or are they just due to the limited-time that Google, et al have had to build their link-rankings in China?
#4 will the dem’s have the balls to repeal the creepier provisions of the patriot act? only time will tell.
Comment by ken — 11/9/2006 @ 10:11 am
The creepier provisions? I want them to repeal the whole goddam thing. I want them to set us on a track back to the year 1999, where we can start moving forward again…
I keep hearing people say “live free or die” when I suggest Democrats are better for the economy, which they are, and always have been, and I can’t figure out what the hell they are talking about… but even more perplexing is why they don’t roll out that tired mantra when neo-cons are chopping up the Constitution and spitting on our liberty….