I'm getting really really tired of all the Western countries being ignorant and making up sh|t about China. It really is a joke.
I just stumbled across a Facebook group. This is what it said
Chat rooms monitored. Blogs deleted. Search results re-routed. Websites blocked.
Try to search for blacklisted sites like Amnesty International in China and you will get an error message or be re-routed to an authorised government site.
The same thing happens when you search for terms like democracy, Tibet, Taiwan or Tiananmen Square – timed out, connection reset.
The Great Firewall
That's Internet censorship, China's 'Golden Shield Project'. The Government is watching you.
Behind what has been dubbed the 'Great Firewall of China' citizens can be imprisoned for sending emails, posting blogs or passing on information deemed to be sensitive, a threat to national sovereignty or a state secret.
In China the Internet has become a new frontier in the fight for human rights.
Thousands of Internet police
China has reportedly employed between 30,000 and 50,000 special Internet police who, with the aid of Western-provided technology, read private emails, conduct surveillance, remove blogs and block banned websites.
On screen, Internet users looking at China's most popular websites will see a cartoon cyber-police officer appear every half hour. The cartoon officer reminds them not to view censored material.
In Internet cafés users have to give their full name and an identification card before a using computer. Many cafés, which are subject to random checks, have installed extra censorship software to make sure their customers don't break the rules.
New rules are regularly created to keep up with the pace of the Internet. In January this year licence agreements came into force dictating – in reaction to video-sharing sites like YouTube – that all video material on the web must be approved by a government regulatory body.
Breeding fear
There is no list of what is censored or what authorities are looking for – it's kept deliberately vague and is constantly updated – this instills fear and uncertainty in Internet surfers in the hope that, on top of all the other controls, they will censor themselves.
China is helped by the Internet companies – global giants Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft, and Chinese companies such as Alibaba and Baidu – who have signed a pledge with the Government, the contents of which have not been made public.
The pledge allows the companies to operate in China, but only under conditions that involve censorship of their users.
For more information, go to: http://www.uncensor.com.au/
OMG. Please. Blocked or banned for writing about Taiwan or Tibet? If that were true I would've been banned many times already (rolleyes).
Anyone living in China for longer than 2 weeks and with half a brain would've already found a way to circumvent TGF by use of a proxy or VPN or other means.
China is
NOT the only country with internet censorship (get your facts straight people!!)
I used an internet cafe when I first moved here. I also paid for in-room broadband internet in our hotel. They did
not ask me for ID or a passport or anything. The only asked me for a refundable deposit.
Cartoon police officer? WTF? I've never seen this! Where do people even get this information from?
Yes YouTube has been blocked (and I admit that sucked) but it was never for longer than a few days at a time, it's never been constantly blocked. Right now it's working fine.
Yes I agree that human rights issues in China stinks, blocking/firewalling websites stinks particularly ones like Wikipedia or innocent blogs or Flickr (!!!) but geez, I just can't stand how the world thinks that China is the
WORST country right now and all it does is
BAD things and every
OTHER country is so great by comparison and is 100% totally
INNOCENT and
GOOD in every way, shape and form.
PUH-LEEZE, people!When I read dumb things such as the above example, all it shows me is the stupidity and ignorance of the authors.
