International Law

Censored!

I was amused to receive an email from a friend today advising that my blog is blocked in China:

Hey Pete

I'm in China for a few months at the moment.

I thought you'd get a kick out of knowing that your blog is blocked by the great firewall. Image attached. This is the screen of death for banned websites! Your site must be specifically blocked, because it's not as though you are using a shared domain, such as blogspot.com, etc.

On a related point, there was a hilarious front page article in the China Daily yesterday accusing the western media of bias. This is despite CNN being blacked out every time a news item about Tibet screened!! :)

On a related note, I also read an article today from The Atlantic that critiques the Great Firewall of China:

In reality, what the Olympic-era visitors will be discovering is not the absence of China?s electronic control but its new refinement?and a special Potemkin-style unfettered access that will be set up just for them, and just for the length of their stay. According to engineers I have spoken with at two tech organizations in China, the government bodies in charge of censoring the Internet have told them to get ready to unblock access from a list of specific Internet Protocol (IP) addresses?certain Internet cafés, access jacks in hotel rooms and conference centers where foreigners are expected to work or stay during the Olympic Games. (I am not giving names or identifying details of any Chinese citizens with whom I have discussed this topic, because they risk financial or criminal punishment for criticizing the system or even disclosing how it works. Also, I have not gone to Chinese government agencies for their side of the story, because the very existence of Internet controls is almost never discussed in public here, apart from vague statements about the importance of keeping online information ?wholesome.?)

Depending on how you look at it, the Chinese government?s attempt to rein in the Internet is crude and slapdash or ingenious and well crafted. When American technologists write about the control system, they tend to emphasize its limits. When Chinese citizens discuss it?at least with me?they tend to emphasize its strength. All of them are right, which makes the government?s approach to the Internet a nice proxy for its larger attempt to control people?s daily lives.

Read more here.

Full post as published by Freedom to Differ on March 23, 2008 (boomark / email).