Re: Stranger still, I have been busted by SI for my posts to some of the Bush/Gore newsgroups. I guess that censorship on SI is an issue. I know that Al Gore "invented" the internet, but does that mean he owns it too???
Rumor has it that SI's been covertly bought out by a Chinese venture fund.... Here's a clue:
China imposes censorship of news reports and Internet chat rooms
By Mike Ingram
10 November 2000
On November 7, the Chinese government announced new restrictions on Web sites offering news reports and requiring chat rooms to use only officially approved topics.
The regulations, published in state-run newspapers, require general portal sites to use news only from state-controlled media. Special permission must be sought to use news from foreign media and strict editorial conditions must be met for sites to generate their own news. The rules say that failure to comply will result in warnings, temporary suspension or permanent shutdown. Only state media will be allowed to set up news sites and even then only with government approval.
Power to grant permission was given to the State Council Information Office, an agency with ties to the ruling Stalinist Communist Party's Propaganda Ministry. The information office will supervise Internet services while the Ministry of Information Industry will be responsible for monitoring content.
The announcement confirms what has been rumoured for over a year and was unwritten government policy for much longer. With no reason to believe that the Chinese authorities would take any different approach to the exchange of information on the Internet than in other walks of life, companies have exercised self-censorship and in some cases opted for more neutral information such as sports and entertainment.
In addition to the suppression of news sites, the government is seeking to prevent the Internet being used as a vehicle for political discussion or dissenting opinion. Building on legislation announced last month, the latest measures order operators of bulletin-board services and chat rooms to use only approved topics for discussion and then monitor what users post. Lists of banned content have been issued previously that include such broad categories as any material that "damages the reputation of China".
Last month's legislation also included a requirement that Internet companies maintain detailed logs of visitors to their sites including the phone numbers and other information. These must be handed to police upon request.
The Chinese government is not the only one to encounter problems with the Internet as the medium for a free exchange of ideas on a world scale. The political elite in Britain and the US also spends much of their time discussing new ways by which to control the Internet. But China is particularly disturbed by the development of the Internet as a forum for global communication.
[snip]
wsws.org
Another gaffe of yours and you may end up in some re-education camp in mainland China.... |
