As the Beijing Olympics near, the Chinese government is cracking down on dissent by banning methods of protest it deems dangerous: YouTube, MySpace, Flickr, Blogspot, and Wikipedia. Known casually as the Great Firewall, the government has been systematically tightening controls on the internet, even over websites that have no apparent political content.
The government censorship may be accomplishing the opposite effect: Instead of increasing obedience and conformity, the action is creating rebels. People who might not have been political are now bucking the system, publishing "cheat codes" to circumnavigate the government lockdown. It's uncertain how far the Chinese government will reach in order to control information — earlier this year, Wei Wenhua was clubbed to death by city inspectors for taking cell phone pictures of an attack by the city inspectors on villagers who were trying to block city trucks from unloading garbage near their homes. It's thought that Wei was the sort of "citizen journalist" Chinese authorities now seek to control.
Is the Chinese government encouraging stronger dissent by these restrictions? Given that the internet is a global forum, how should these kinds of freedom of expression issues be handled? Would you tolerate government interference in your web-surfing?
No Romeo
Patrizia Pepe
COUTURE COUTURE
This is why I am so GRATEFUL to be living in the USA!
1Well said shopaholichunny!
Hopefully this doesn't get out of hand, because it seems like China has been flying under the radar for a while now regarding control issues and most recently, the negative support in Africa you posted earlier.
2I certainly would not tolerate government interference in my web-surfing...no way!
That is a ridiculously silly question to ask. Of course no one wants the government interfering in their web surfing. As to whether they'd tolerate it if it were imposed...is there much of a choice???
3There is a woman in Cuba who is doing something similar. She is getting around the censorship and writing about what is really going on in Cuba.
There is always a choice.Seriously if the government tried to restrict what I could and could not read or talk about I would not tolerate it. I choose not to live in a world like those of Brave New World, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451
I say hooray to the people who are trying to get and send information about their country and its practices.
4WHY do we have dealings with this government?! Take your money out of our economy!! We don't want your cheap crap anyway.
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