If the Chinese government’s claim that Internet pornography and vulgar content seriously threaten the mental and physical health of youth is true, then perhaps looking at too much porn really will turn you blind?
I’m no doctor so I’ll refrain from further speculation on the physical effects, but reports are in that the Chinese government is committed to a ‘long-lasting’ crackdown on some Internet content – which as we know is content they disagree with. Liu Zhengrong of the State Council news office Internet bureau says Internet pornography and vulgar content threatens to damage the healthy development of the Internet in China and they will not abandon efforts to clean up the online environment under any circumstances.
…Like shutting down blog network Bullog.cn.
6 comments
Stuart Anderson says:
Jan 23, 2009
If they replaced ‘porn’ with ‘myspace’ then I wouldn’t doubt their claims of manifest harm.
I understand the ‘no love but love for the party’ credo (especially in a country where it is so overtly applied), but I don’t understand how anyone can ever think it could be practically implemented. This is the stumbling block of internet censorship. No matter how noble or evil the motives for filtering may be, it’s moot. Not should we or shouldn’t we, because we cannot in either instance.
How is any of this stuff supposed to work?
Bob Bain says:
Jan 25, 2009
The zealous Chinese government has already closed down over 1,200 websites it isn’t keen on, including popular Chinese blogging site bullog.cn.
Bullog, unfortunately, had bloggers who unwisely signed a manifesto back in December calling for greater civil freedoms and elections in China, something, we assume, made it a site which, in Liu’s little red book, would “threaten the mental and physical health of youth and threaten to damage the healthy development of the Internet”.
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/opinion/604/1050604/china-pretends-web-censorship-porn
By Sylvie Barak
Saturday, 24 January 2009, 13:17
Syd Walker says:
Jan 25, 2009
Same old excuse (sex).
Same old underlying motivation (political).
That’s my opinion, FWIW. Yesterday I noticed that Germany is now oushing to bring in ‘filtering’ that sounds suspiciously similar to the Australian proposal.
See First They Went for Canberra… Now They Want Berlin! for my take on this rather disturbing news.
Warning: the article contains no explicit sex, but does touch on controverial political issues. Please down’t visit if you feel you may be offended.
Fermista says:
Jan 26, 2009
Political censorship is something the Germans should move away from, because going the other way just takes them back towards the oppressive laws of the Nazi regime.
SkipEU says:
Jan 26, 2009
I doubt internet filtering will hold in Germany. I am sure they will bring case to the Supreme Court which is known for its protection of human rights.
But Australia set bad example for sure. Politicians are always looking for stupid ideas like this to gain political points.
Syd Walker says:
Jan 26, 2009
I think your optimism about the German courts protection of human rights is misplaced, SkipEU. It depends if one considers dissidents (and their lawyers) human, I guess.
Anyhow, I’ve done a follow up to the article I published yesterday on this topic, see:
Unpopular Suspicion, Easy to Refute