I Love Chinese...
...food that is.
Did you know that the Chinese government censors their citizens' blogs? What's worse is the cooperation that the Chinese government gets from Microsoft to do it. A very popular blogger that goes by the name Mr. Anti has been shut down for reporting (on his personal blog) that a group of reporters in Beijing has gone on strike. Allegedly Mr. Anti didn't even say he supported the walkout. Apparently a reporter was fired for reporting on some police shootings and citizen unrest. In sympathy for the fired reporter, hundreds of other reporters refused to work. Hooray for a glimpse of cohesion in an oppressed society.
It has been common knowledge that MSN Spaces cooperates with oppressive governments to prevent their citizens from expressing any dissention. Words like 'Democracy' and 'Human Rights' are banned from blog titles. This however is the first account of an entire bloggers work being removed, and without any warning. (He wasn't given any chance to back up his files.)
This is disturbing to me. I am unsure what the solution is. I know that Microsoft can't force China to be an open country, but where does it end? Will companies like MS and Yahoo become so powerful as to shape the way information is presented and decide who is allowed to present it? Will crap like this spill over into our country? I hope not. source source source
posted by Rusko Elvenwood at 4:52 PM
4 Comments:
Interesting topic.
Happy New Year !
Personally I think he baited the Chinese government. He must have know it was inevitible, Microsoft's stance on China isn't exactly unknown, and if you read MSN's terms of use it should be self-evident why a so-called professional of stature probably shouldn't use their services in the first place. The actions of the Chinese gov doesn't excuse Zhao from either being a weasel and/or naive to the point of being stupid. It isn't difficult to protect yourself from this sort of thing, and it certainly wasn't outside of his means..
And much of Europe has been doing this for some time now, usually under the guise of "hate" or "incitement", it's not exactly unique to China.
That's a good point brother john. If Zhao really was techno savvy, he could have found another means to report his stance. I didn't know about Europe though. I'll check into that more.
Thanks for your comment.
Damn you!!! Now I want lo mein. heh heh
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