China Unblocks Some Censored US News Sites
from the letting-the-news-flow dept
In the wake of last week's tragedy, China apparently unblocked a number of US news sites that they had previously censored. Included on the suddenly accessible list were The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Boston Globe. CNN, however, remains blocked. No one is sure why they did this (and folks in China certainly aren't talking), though it's assumed that the decision was related to people trying to find out more info following last week's attacks. The best explanation was just that China has a fairly ad hoc censorship policy, and it really depends on how the censors are feeling that day.
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does yahoo Agree with censorship? and corporate DN
What is even more distressing, is the actions from companies such as Yahoo, in signging the "Public Pledge on Self-discipline for the Chinese Internet Industry" as commented on in the article http://hrw.org/press/2002/08/yahoo-ltr073002.htm "Yahoo! Risks Abusing Rights in China"
Some questions that should be ask and need to be answered as the rights and freedom of information is being reduced to the people of China are:
- Was Yahoo coerced into signing the "Public Pledge on Self-discipline for
the Chinese Internet Industry"? Did Yahoo know of the ramifications of what
would happen if it did not sign it? Not only that their site would be
blocked, but also that the Chinese Government could and might have
redirected traffic away from the real Yahoo site, to other sites in China,
similar to what it has done with www.google.com and www.altavista.com
- And since Yahoo has signed such an agreement, does that mean that Yahoo
now agrees with the current actions by the Chinese Government against not
only these other sites, but also other potential sites.
- Does Yahoo agree with the systematic blocking of potential competitor
sites? Does Yahoo agree with redirecting traffic from corporate websites to
other similar sites?
Please consider these implications as the Chinese people struggle to live, think and learn about about freedom.
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