Google throws down the gauntlet on Chinese censorship

[Gary_Baldy]

@athelas

Obvious war on terrorism analogy is obvious. Even in the US, there was considerable debate over whether it was justified, and China is a country with less of a historical background to appreciate libertarian arguments, and no facile Franklin quotes about liberty and security to sling around.

I’m sure Sun Yat-sen would be surprised to hear this.

[BrainGlutton]

@athelas

Obvious war on terrorism analogy is obvious. Even in the US, there was considerable debate over whether it was justified, and China is a country with less of a historical background to appreciate libertarian arguments, and no facile Franklin quotes about liberty and security to sling around.

It is also a country with many civil wars in its long history, including several extremely bloody ones just within the past two centuries (the Taiping Rebellion alone probably had the highest body count of any war, anywhere, in the 19th Century). One can understand how its government – any government – would instinctively equate dissent with disaster.

[China_Guy]

@HoboStew

I know the main thrust of the article agrees with your point, but it mentions some people (including a woman named Bing, ironically enough) in china showing their support to Google. If somehow their move gains some traction and causes some sort of social change there, I think that would be unprecedented in human history, no?

Call me cynical but I’d bet you a big pile of money that the reporter in that story had Ms. Bing down on hearsay or he just made it up. Makes for a better story.

This is a complete and total non-event in China.

As pointed out, anyone that wants to could easily access Google or Bing or any other international search engine via a proxy.

Of course the Chinese government has some sort of capability to monitor email. As does the NSA. It’s not like they read every email of all 300 Million Chinese netizens though. There may be a higher bar in the US, but during the TWAT (The war against terror) years and even now it’s pretty likely a lot of suspect emails get snooped and checked.

Not sure if it’s grass roots or orchestrated, but search on google for the term: “Chinese People” and see what the first result is in the drop down box. An email pointing this out is flying around. (I don’t know how to do a spoiler but it is “Chinese People Eat Babies” and being touted as an example of “Google is evil.”)

As for human rights activists being hacked. All I can say is that they are naive. An activist in the US, such as a Tibetan one at Stanford I read about, should follow security protocol that would make Al Queda proud. Certainly, they should not be using a free mail account from their personal computer with sensitive information that could be hacked and be dangerous in the wrong hands. (Not to justify hacking an activist or anything, but if you’re going play that game then it is definately your responsiblity to be serious about security.)

[kidneyfailure]

@China_Guy

As for human rights activists being hacked. All I can say is that they are naive. An activist in the US, such as a Tibetan one at Stanford I read about, should follow security protocol that would make Al Queda proud. Certainly, they should not be using a free mail account from their personal computer with sensitive information that could be hacked and be dangerous in the wrong hands. (Not to justify hacking an activist or anything, but if you’re going play that game then it is definately your responsiblity to be serious about security.)

Careful there, CG. Sooner or later someone is going to call you a “China apologist” or “stooge of Chinese Communism” just for pointing facts and common sense that are 100% true!

[Voyager]

@kidneyfailure

Of course it does. Nothing in China ever makes sense.

I used to live in the Congo, which is the ultimate in insane countries, and I still think you are talking about different subsets of the population.

[kidneyfailure]

@Voyager

I used to live in the Congo, which is the ultimate in insane countries, and I still think you are talking about different subsets of the population.

Well, you’re wrong. And living in Congo doesn’t give you the experience to comment on China. Have you ever lived here before?

[mswas]

So does this mean we have to call it Google-Do now?