ProBlogger Room

RESPECT - frank burns

Ah, diablo 2.. my old friend. Anyway, I think China are merely ahead of the curve. Pretty much every western nation has or is planning to roll out internet content bans under the guise of "protection from kiddy fiddlers, terrorism and fraud". The little that is left accessable is to be monitored thru snooping laws or via the back door using puppet schemes such as behavioural ad systems... more... - alphaxion

alphaxion, you're right. *looks at Germany* - vijay

vijay, I'm not condoning Chinese authorities' activities, but this tradition of China-as-closed-Empire, impenetrable to and unexploitable by foreign influences, stretches farther back there than first stirrings of Western democracy (which, btw. might be considered a tad too fascist for our tastes to be considered truly democratic). Remember, this is the nation that built the only man-made object visible by naked eye from the Moon, and they did it sans power excavators and the like… - ianf ⌘

Look at the UK, France, The data retention and snooping laws the EU is trying to pass, Australia, Canada, US... - alphaxion

@alphaxion: In Europe only. Whitelist "anti-porn" legislation in the US has failed repeatedly thanks to SCOTUS, with the NYAG's Usenet attack being the only notable exception. And data retention/snooping != whitelisting, though the two concepts are related. - LANjackal

@LANjackal snooping and retention are the tools with which to abuse things such as the patriot act. The US government already considers any data that is stored in or passes through the USA to be the property of the government. While it may not be a whitelist directly, they can be used to enforce certain browsing habits with the threat of legal punishment from the proceeds of such... more... - alphaxion

I agree ianf. What gets me is that they have no problem opening that wall when it comes to manufacturing the very equipments whose usage they block. hypocrites, no? - vijay

Thousands of years later the Great Firewall of China will be a great attraction :) - Jemm

@alphaxion: Well at least we can fight it here via our democracy. And we should. - LANjackal

vijay, the Greeks said it first "pecunia non olet." Vladimir Illitj Lenin said it last: "the capitalists will sell us the rope with which to hang them." @Jemm - there won't be any Great Firewall of China to remember, that's for sure. - ianf ⌘

@lanjackal I'll agree you guys have had much greater luck dodging some nasty bullets (use of DPI in ad companies for example is being rejected in the US IIRC). However, something I have been keeping tabs on in the UK and the subject of it is finally being approached by our media. The UK has bypassed a lot of the civil unrest that occurred to most democracies - we've only really had 1... more... - alphaxion

?What? Battle of Stiff Upper Lips vs. the Yobs? I'd like to see it. Also (and that's serious), let's not drag, or romanticize, Iranians into this - it's not like their was some kind of popular uprising against theocracy, only for and against different flavors of the same despotism. - ianf ⌘

@ianf now there's a way to stick to stereotypes. No, I'm talking about a number of those of us under 35 with any degree of intelligence. A common theme I hear in discussions with random people (a habit of mine) is a desire to see a total change of system of government in the UK. Crap like the great firewalls of many nations and the uncovering of even more abuses of the system could proove to be a tipping point. All I'm saying is watch this space, cause if it does blow up, it's gonna be nasty. - alphaxion

A System named Desire ["to see a total change of system of government in the UK"]? This not the thread to discuss it, but if you post what you'd be prepared to lay down your life FOR, as opposed to AGAINST, I promise to do me best to show how evolutionary changes are overall preferable to revolutionary ones. Even though they take much longer to accomplish. - ianf ⌘

Of course it will be one. perhaps some 12th or so wonder of the world that will be visible from anywhere there is Internet access.. - Sardar Mohkim Khan

With sympathetic respect China, neither Google or it's people in the United States or close neighbors agree on pornography but over the years as the Internet developed, loop holes formed and the evil one's found the back doorways. Unfortunately for all of us, with China being no exception to the rule, we have to tolerate systems that have been operating in this manner until a world-wide... more... - frank burns