Twitter Blocked in China (Again)

Source: PC World

China appeared to block Twitter across the country and Internet access in a western province on Monday, after ethnic riots killed at least 140 people in the remote region.

The moves were an apparent bid to stanch the flow of information out of Xinjiang province and to prevent further rioting there. Over 800 other people were injured and the official death toll is likely to rise, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

The government actions added to long-standing efforts to control online discussion of sensitive topics, especially at times of crisis.

"They cut off the Internet to shut down communications," said Wu'er Kaixi, an ethnic Uighur who fled China after helping lead pro-democracy protests there twenty years ago. The Uighurs are a minority concentrated in Xinjiang province that China has struggled to assimilate.

Beijing did not want Internet users to upload pictures and videos like they did after deadly riots last year in Tibet, Wu'er said.

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Seems a silly reason to censor the internet. If people are rioting and the police is handling it, than there's nothing to hide. China should show off their they're doing a good job beating rioters!

Damn! Green Dam Sucks!

Did you know bad stuff on the computer will turn an angel into a devil? :)

Source: CNN

China's last-minute decision to postpone a controversial content-filtering application on computers sold there is the latest example of the trouble that Western technology companies face doing business in the world's fastest-growing economy.

Businesses and Chinese computer users are up in arms about the Web filtering plan -- ostensibly meant to protect young online users from pornography, but criticized for leaving businesses vulnerable to cyber attacks.

The "Green Dam Youth Escort" software application unleashed a flood of complaints toward Beijing, making strange bedfellows of human rights groups such as Amnesty International, Chinese computer users and trade groups representing the largest international businesses in China.

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The government wants unlimited control and wants to know what you're doing at all times. It has nothing to do with porn.

China bans all porn, even sex ed!

Source: Reuters

Ordinary web users in China will be banned from surfing sex-related medical and research websites from next month, amid an Internet crackdown on pornographic online content, according to new regulations.

Medical information service providers must install software to ensure only professionals can access sites that carry information and research about sex, the regulations on the website of the Ministry of Health (www.moh.gov.cn) said.

"It is prohibited to spread pornographic content in the name of sex-related scientific research," the regulations said.

But the rules risk slowing sexual health education in a country where many people are too embarrassed to talk publicly about sex.

Chat rooms on health channels in popular web sites, which are one of the few sources of information on sexuality and sexually transmitted diseases, may also be covered by the regulations.

"The health sections of web portals are not allowed to conduct sex-related research services," the regulation added.

The rules do not specify exactly what is covered by "scientific research" into sex.

The rules come after a series of anti-porn efforts that culminated in the announcement earlier this month that Beijing would demand the installation of "Green Dam" Internet filtering software on all new personal computers manufactured or shipped after July 1.

Just like anything in life. The internet has both good a bad elements. We all know the internet can be a dangerous place where kids and teenagers can run into violent, sex and tasteless sites. But technological advances is always really fascinating to me. Kids now can take pictures, upload them, text 100 miles an hour. When I was a kid I couldn even turn Bumblebee back into a car :(

The Chinese government is scared of EVERYTHING and the more they restrict the better for them to maintain control. In this case they will lose out alot on sexual health and education in a country that is still too naive about sex and too embarassed to ask.

You Can Hack Chinese Computers!

Source: BBC

Every PC in China could be at risk of being taken over by malicious hackers because of flaws in compulsory government software.

The potential faults were brought to light by Chinese computer experts who said the flaw could lead to a "large-scale disaster".

The Chinese government has mandated that all computers in the country must have the screening software installed.

It is intended to filter out offensive material from the net.

The Chinese government said that the Green Dam Youth Escort software, as it is known, was intended to push forward the "healthy development of the internet" and "effectively manage harmful material for the public and prevent it from being spread."

"We found a series of software flaws," explained Isaac Mao, a blogger and social entrepreneur in China, as well as a research fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

For example, he said, tests had shown that communications between the software and the servers at the company that developed the program were unencrypted.

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Not a surprise. The criminals are always ahead of the government and police. The more the government wants to censor and peek into people's computer, the hackers an go that same route even faster!

Chinese Computers Will Come Anti-Wanged

Say goodbye to these lovely ladies

Source: Google

China is requiring personal computers sold in the country to carry software that blocks online pornography and other Web sites, potentially giving one of the world's most sophisticated censorship regimes even more control over the Internet.

The software's developer said Monday the tool would give parents more oversight by preventing computers from accessing sites with pornographic pictures or language. Jinhui Computer System Engineering Co., which won a government contract to develop the "Green Dam-Youth Escort" filtering software, was compiling a database of sites to block.

Although porn sites are initially targeted, the software could be used to block other Web sites, too, including those based on keywords rather than specific Web addresses.

Parents can also add their own sites to the blocking list, Zhang Chenmin, general manager of Jinhui, told The Associated Press.

"If a father doesn't want his son to be exposed to content related to basketball or drugs, he can block all Web sites related to those things," Zhang said.

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Basketball?! Is there something racy and violent about basketball that I don't know about? (Kobe Bryant notwithstanding)

I don't think the Chinese really understand. If you can't download porn why bother having a computer?

No more rambunctious cuddling games for you, Japan

Source: Kotaku

First Japanese rape games were "banned". Then, they were unbanned — rather, they were never officially banned. Now? Now, they're banned. Like, for real.

The country's Ethics Organization of Computer Software held an emergency meeting today in which nearly 100 representatives from various erotic game companies concluded that the manufacturer and sale of rape-type games should cease. This was not a government decision or even a legal one, but instead a self-policing policy on the part of the EOCS.

None of the representatives thought it was out of line to ban these types of games, and many felt this was the only way to rectify any problems caused by these types of games. Do know: a vote was not taken at this meeting, for whatever that is worth.

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Good! I'm usually against banning anything but these games are pretty extreme. I don't have problem with sex or porn but these video games promote a crime and can psychological influence men to objectify real women in public as objects in a video game. Very disrespectful.

Whatever happened to simple video games... like Frogger!

China blocks Twitter, Flickr and Hotmail ahead of Tiananmen anniversary

DUH! What's going on? Looks like good news to me! China #1!

Source: Guardian

Chinese censors blocked access to Twitter and other popular online services today , two days before the 20th anniversary of the crackdown on democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.

The move came amid increasing pressure on dissidents, in a reflection of the authorities' anxiety ahead of the sensitive date. Hundreds died as the army forced its way through Beijing to clear away demonstrators from the capital's political heart in June 1989, but the issue is taboo on the mainland.

The photo-sharing site Flickr, email service Hotmail and other services were also unavailable this evening.

"Twitter is a tool which can put all the sensitive things and sensitive guys together, very quickly. That's the very thing that the Chinese government doesn't want to see in China," said one blogger, Michael Anti, who had predicted Twitter would not be allowed for long.

"They needed time to figure out what it is and whether it needed to be controlled."

He added: "I don't know whether they will reopen Twitter after 4 June. I hope they will, for Twitter is a crucial icon for the new internet era on which many innovations emerge. China can't block their young generation from the future."

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Shuuuuuuuush Tiananmen never happened so it is not to be discussed. It's pretty sad that govenment have to censor everything to their people and continue to hide their evil actions. The Chinese public are just mindless idiots.

A statement like this from me would be followed by comments and hate mail from Chinese pawns... but they can't read this today so NYAH!! phhhhhhhhhttttttttt

*dance dance dance*

China’s Ban on Blogger Blogs

Source: Blogging Tips

There has been much speculation about China’s recently imposed “blanket ban” of all Blogger powered blogs. Some believe this is intended to quell references to the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square incident, while others wonder if this is a technical difficulty as hinted on Blogger’s Known Issues page.

In either case, this ban affects blogs hosted on the *blogspot.com subdomain (approximately 275 million) and also those who use a custom domain for their Blogger blogs (statistics of which are very difficult to gather). Here are the results of accessibility tests from WebsitePulse which show whether sites are accessible from within China

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Seems the internet gets censored whenever there is an 'unpleasant' anniversary.

The simplest way to discover if your blog (or website) is inaccessible from within China is to use this free tool from WebSitePulse. Paste the URL of your blog in the window and hit enter. After a few moments, you will be presented with results which show if your blog can be accessed from China and comparitively with other servers from different continents.

Yup. Degenerasian is banned!

China sex theme park demolished

Source: BBC

China's first sex theme park, aimed at improving both the sex education and the sex life of its visitors, has been torn down before it even opened.

The owners were "interested only in profiting from sensationalism," the China Daily reported one official said.

Due to open in Chongqing in October, Love Land was to have included displays of giant genitalia, naked bodies and an exhibition on the history of sex.

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Nice idea but no way in hell that would have gotten off the ground. Squashed even before a single nail driven into the ground.


Related: China to open first sex theme park

10 Worst Countries to be a Blogger

In these places you are literally blogging in the dark

Source: CPJ

With a military government that severely restricts Internet access and imprisons people for years for posting critical material, Burma is the worst place in the world to be a blogger, the Committee to Protect Journalists says in a new report. CPJ’s “10 Worst Countries to be a Blogger” also identifies a number of countries in the Middle East and Asia where Internet penetration has blossomed and government repression has grown in response.

“Bloggers are at the vanguard of the information revolution and their numbers are expanding rapidly,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “But governments are quickly learning how to turn technology against bloggers by censoring and filtering the Internet, restricting online access and mining personal data. When all else fails, the authorities simply jail a few bloggers to intimidate the rest of the online community into silence or self-censorship.”

Relying on a mix of detentions, regulations, and intimidation, authorities in Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Egypt have emerged as the leading online oppressors in the Middle East and North Africa. China and Vietnam, where burgeoning blogging cultures have encountered extensive monitoring and restriction, are among Asia’s worst blogging nations. Cuba and Turkmenistan, nations where Internet access is heavily restricted, round out the dishonor roll.

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Sad but not that surprising. Me being a girl and blogging about anything? I'd be killed in many countries.

Chinese WoW provider The9 faces bankruptcy in wake of Wrath woes

Source: WoW Insider

We told you a few days back that Wrath of the Lich King has had a tough time getting approved in China due to the government's strict censorship laws, but now there's even more bad news for Chinese WoW players. As Sister site Massively reports, The9 has told JLM Pacific Epoch that they will face bankruptcy if the expansion is not green-lighted soon. The Government agency responsible for the decision says that they must balance the needs of the9 with the need to root out "unhealthy" content from the game.

Now I've never played WoW so I'm uneducated. What in WoW would need to be censored?

It's a fantasy world isn't it? It's a world where people go around doing quests and gaining XP and killing stuff to improve their characters? What needs to be censored?

As Tibet Anniversary Nears Youtube is Blocked in China

Reports of Youtube Outages, looks like the no internet in Western China

Source: InventorSpot

Reports are now coming in via Twitter, Fanfou, and the web that Youtube is currently blocked for some users in China, just as it was blocked in the wake of the Tibet riots 1 year ago.

March 2008 saw many Chinese citizens using Youtube and other innovative web 2.0 services as a means of circumventing Chinese censorship and getting the word out about violent riots and protests in Tibet. The world saw a barrage of violent images that the Chinese government didn't particularly want us to see, and it ultimately resulted in a temporary youtube block . From what we've seen over the past 8 hours, it looks as though the government is afraid that it might happen again this year. Chinese video sites (such as youku and tudou) will likely remain up, as they are responsible for policing their own content to make sure that it's not too "disharmonious."

Ah disharmonious. The quest for the perfect society continues. If it happened in China, it didn't happen.

If you're visiting from China, drop a line in the comments as to how you feel about not being able to access Youtube.

Oasis "bewildered" after China gigs cancelled

Source: Yahoo Asia

British rock band Oasis said on Monday it was "bewildered" by China's decision to cancel two concerts scheduled to take place on the mainland next month. The group had expected to play in Beijing on April 3 and Shanghai on April 5.

"Representatives from the Chinese government have revoked the performance licenses already issued for the band and ordered their shows in both Beijing and Shanghai to be immediately canceled," Oasis said in a statement. "The Chinese authorities' action in cancelling these shows marks a reversal of their decision regarding the band which has left both Oasis and the promoters bewildered." The statement added that according to the shows' promoters, the concerts were called off when Chinese authorities discovered band member Noel Gallagher had appeared at a "Free Tibet" benefit concert in the United States in 1997. As a result the government "deemed that the band are ... unsuitable to perform to their fans in the Chinese Republic

What's there to be bewildered about? It's China. They pull the rug from under you at any time.

I don't understand why these bands insist on going through red tape and performing in China. It can't be for money because China doesn't really have alot of money to off in sales and tickets and these bands already have the money. If these bands care about Tibet then shouldn't they boycott anything Chinese? Why even negotiate with the Chinese and then have them slam the door in your face when the rest of the world loves you?

China told to end Tiananmen taboo

Source: BBC

A group of mothers of those killed in the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square has urged China's leaders to fully investigate the deaths.

Their call was issued as the 20th anniversary of the massacre approaches, and days ahead of the annual session of the National People's Congress.

The Tiananmen Mothers want the government to name the dead, compensate families and punish those responsible.

If it happened in China, it never happened.

Gay Asians criticize Oscar speech's TV censorship

Source: MacLean's

Gay Asians voiced indignation Wednesday after television broadcasts of the Academy Awards in their region censored the words "gay" and "lesbian" in speeches that called for equal rights for homosexuals.

The speeches by actor Sean Penn and writer Dustin Lance Black - who won Oscars for their work in "Milk" - were shown in full during live broadcasts of the Oscars that were screened across Asia on Monday morning.

It's still taboo. Ask any of our parents and they object. Heck heterosexual sex is frowned upon let alone gay relationships.

Censorship always bothers me in but Asia everything is censored. Anything that doesn't sound right is taken out

China shuts down 84 more porn websites

I was reading China Daily today and saw two stories back to back and just shook my head. China is very good at talking out of both sides of their mouth.



China shuts down 84 more porn websites

BEIJING - China shut down another 84 websites on Wednesday for containing "pornographic and lewd content", bringing the total number of blocked sites in the month-long campaign against such sites to 175.

The Special Operation Office for the Crackdown on Online Porn and Lewd Content said in a statement that government departments would step up efforts to continue to close illegal websites and "severe penalties" would be meted out to those who violated the law.

OK. That's fine, it's great they're cracking down.

But then...



2008 China Lingerie Model Contest

A model presents a creation for the finals of 2008 China Lingerie Model Contest in Nanning, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, December 28, 2008.

Excuse me? A REGIONAL Lingerie Contest? How many regions are in China? 888888? This is 2009! They don't even have lingerie model contests in the US and any lingerie show on tv is chastized! Is the annual Victoria Secret Lingerie show still on tv?

So they want to ban all porn, even if it's legal but parade girls in bikinis in every region. Incredible.

Chinese Woman ‘Kappa Girl’ detained by Shanghai police for posting own sex video on internet

Source: Guardian

Kappa Girl - otherwise known as Ms Huang - became a viral phenomenon last month in China after posting a 12-minute homemade porn flick of herself - and then writing an accompanying blog to try and defend her video and to cash in on her popularity. Huang wanted to charge 50,000 yuan (£4,926) or a modelling assignment, 20,000 yuan for a bar appearance and had offered interviews with the media for 300,000 yuan. A good head for figures, then.

Sheesh, girl can't even make a buck.