Outgoing Philly CIO Under Ethics Investigation

China Making Sure That User Generated Content Is Officially Registered Content First

from the hello-bureaucracy dept

Wed, Aug 16th 2006 7:49pm — Mike Masnick

China has a long history of being a bureaucratic society -- and it seems they're really learned how to apply that bureaucracy to the internet. They have tens of thousands of people monitoring the internet, for example. However, they're really going to ridiculous extremes in trying to slow down the production of non-approved content. A year ago, we mentioned that they wanted every website to register with the government. Earlier this year, they wanted everyone who ran an email server to register as well. The latest, then, really isn't too surprising. With the rapid rise in popularity of online video sites, the Chinese government is now planning to require every user-created video to first be "approved" before it can be posted online. Considering the pace at which people add videos to sites like YouTube and Google Video, this sounds like a nearly impossible task if you actually want people to generate content. Of course, that's the point. They don't want people to generate their own content, because they might produce content the government doesn't like.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

28 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

dorpus, 16 Aug 2006 @ 8:12pm

Good to be China
A country whose prosperity is supported by borrowed money from Japan and the World Bank, basic schooling and health care is unavailable to half the population, people are forbidden by law from moving to better cities, the cities are running out of water, the rivers are toxic sewers when they flow at all, cities routinely turn into seas of flame from riots, web surfing is closely monitored or censored, the country's best minds all defect to America, the country is engaged in violent territorial disputes with all its neighbors, funds brutal insurgency movements in Nepal and Peru, supports corrupt dictatorships in Myanmar and Central Asia, Uighur terrorists blow up buses, embarrassing outbreaks of SARS or avian flu cause the country to periodically get quarantined, 90% of girls are aborted in rural villages, the AIDS epidemic is running rampant but receives no publicity, people live in superstitious fear involving folk cures and "chi", ....
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 16 Aug 2006 @ 8:51pm

^ man isnt american propoganda absolutely GREAT??

but doesnt Google employ such a service to a somewhat lesser extent? dont all submitted videos have to go through approval first?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 16 Aug 2006 @ 8:56pm

Re:
There's a difference between a private company doing it and a government doing it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
dorpus, 16 Aug 2006 @ 9:27pm

Re:
It's a fun world. While Chinese geniuses go to America to get their PhD's, the mediocre students, thrill seekers, and petty criminals go to Japan to make money from purse snatching or massage parlors. China and Japan are both filling up with Canadian and Australian English teachers who teach funny English, get drunk, and chase teenage girls. Few Americans are willing to live such undignified lives, but it has become a popular career option among the vast hordes of college graduates in Canada/Australia with no hope of getting a real job at home. The English teacher types have their Asia forums on the net, where anyone who talks smack about English teachers or sounds too pro-American quickly have their accounts deleted. English teachers make side income from taking illegal pictures and carrying it on their USB thumb drives when taking trips back home. If they get caught and kicked out of Japan/China, then they go to Thailand and spend their lives in seedy bars in Bangkok or Chang Mai, going into the slave and heroin trade.

But that's a level of free speech that is usually censored, even in the West.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dan, 16 Aug 2006 @ 9:49pm

Re: Re:
I don't know what you just said about English teachers and such... must be over my head.

And clearly China has issues it will need to work out... hopefully we Americans can stay out of it and let them figure out things for themselves.

Still glad to be an American.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Frink, 16 Aug 2006 @ 10:55pm

Don't forget that millions of United States consumers help support China by purchasing billions of dollars worth of imported Chinese products. Much of this merchandise shows up at your local Chinese outlet store - Wal̰̰̰~Mart. And remember our government allows a huge trade deficit to exist between them and the US. Why should we care about anything that happens over there? Except for the fact that we are a great customer the Chinese don't appear to be our friends or allies in any way.

So life is a bitch in China? Screw 'em! Let the people overthrow the government and they can have all the shitty video and perverted web content we have over here. Maybe we could even reduce that trade deficit by exporting all of our porn to them.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
rijit (profile), 16 Aug 2006 @ 11:41pm

"Don't forget that millions of United States consumers help support China by purchasing billions of dollars worth of imported Chinese products."
Kind of hard not to support China since most American companies go to China to get things manufactured. If I could boycott Chinese products I would. Being realistic though, I am not rich, I can't afford to boycott Chinese made products.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sanguine Dream, 17 Aug 2006 @ 5:32am

Re:
Hell I don't think the problem is affording non-Chinese products I think its would be finding non-chinese products. Unless you didn't mean that in the monetary sense.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Tetsu, 17 Aug 2006 @ 5:45pm

Re: Good to be China
Hi, have you ever gone to China? I have to tell you what you are talking about is totally ridiculous. I wonder who taught you these?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
VonSkippy, 17 Aug 2006 @ 6:06pm

What a bunch of Morons
And you dorks learned all your expert Chinese knowledge where (and sitting in your parents basement surfing the net doesn't count)?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
goood, 17 Aug 2006 @ 7:35pm

all you poor americans, seems you always think you understand china than anyone even chinese self, although maybe most of you never be there once.

also, please do remember any american buy chinese goods, not largess to china and chinese. you may just buy same thing from others countries, we chinese may live better.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
RiceEater, 17 Aug 2006 @ 7:35pm

Re: Good to be China
uh... theorycraft much? where did you get all these expert knowledge about China? have you actually been to China or are you just a natural hater?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Aug 2006 @ 7:57pm

Re: Good to be China
dont put ur sheer nonsense on the internet cos u know nothing about modern china.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
thirsty, 17 Aug 2006 @ 8:22pm

Dorpus - you have no idea
It is a pretty bad state of affairs when regulation censors so much in China. But Dorpus, surely you’re being sarcastic with your comments. You cant really be that ignorant, can you?

The main reason why so many Chinese go overseas to gain a higher education is to get a better understanding Western culture and to speak English. More often than not, they then go back to China and make a stack of money in business, dealing with the West.

‘Petty criminals go to Japan to make money purse snatching…’???? Chump, you really have no idea, do you. Having spent a number of years living in Japan and also living in China, I know first hand that there are at least as many Americans living in Japan that are involved in criminal activities as there are Chinese. In fact, I would suggest that there would be more Americans. A quick visit to Roppongi on a Saturday night would see that this is the case.

‘China and Japan are both filling up with Canadian and Australian English teachers who teach funny English, get drunk, and chase teenage girls….’ – Do you want to know why Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and UK teachers are doing so well in Japan, China and Korea? – its because Americans are generally considered obnoxious due to their ignorance (which you are clearly displaying), and so Asian are more frequently shying away from speaking with an American accent. Secondly, Canadians and Australians are generally more accepting of other cultures, and embrace the experience of living overseas.

I could go on, but Dorpus, you are a dork.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
sam, 17 Aug 2006 @ 8:24pm

shut up your fucking mouth, you bitch
you american dont understand the truth of China, we chinese are intelligent, industrial, we afford cheap goods for you but we get little profit from them, most of them were robbed by foreign enterprise, including americans.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
O.o, 17 Aug 2006 @ 8:28pm

HIDE BEHIND ANONYMOUS
[ link to this | view in thread ]
chad, 17 Aug 2006 @ 10:48pm

Re:
wow, so you justify the actions of a government of a billion people by comparing it to the video upload policy of a private tech company? sheesh, your getting desperate
[ link to this | view in thread ]
chad, 17 Aug 2006 @ 10:54pm

Re: Re:
to dorpus

america never pretends to be perfect. but just because we have lowlifes like every other country in the world, doesnt mean we shouldnt expect the best out of the people of every country. and china condones illicit acticity. they are a leach thats growing from the ingenuity of creative american technology without paying their dues.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
chinaman, 17 Aug 2006 @ 10:56pm

It's ok to censored
It's ok to censored, I guess no one on earth at this point are qualified to tell the china government what to do... wait till your population grown up to the size of watermelon... when you are only apple... Just the same the china people it is rediculous to when they reach your airport... where's the freedom in a freedom land... the chinese think they have more freedom.. Everyone know it is impossible, but the law make it such that the government have right to remove the content if they want to. It is not meant to enforce strictly, but when they want it, it's there..
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Rip, 18 Aug 2006 @ 12:01am

Oh please, spare me the "we have billion people so we need communism and censorship!" argument. Is there some scientifically established threshold number of people allowed for a population before brutal oppression and censorship becomes necessary?

Your argument is an utter fallacy. It can not be verified or measured in any way.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 18 Aug 2006 @ 12:10am

Re: Good to be China
Maybe you are talking about China of 1980s
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anand, 18 Aug 2006 @ 12:32am

Hahaha
Great way to generate employment(as approvers for so many things) for so many people..India should learn too:D
[ link to this | view in thread ]
sunburg, 18 Aug 2006 @ 2:06am

Re: Re:
Sorry, I don't know where do you get all the information abort China. I think you perhaps have never been in China and don't have aqueintance from or Knowing China. There are so many wrong information or aspersion above abort China, If you wnat to know what is really going on in China, welcome here anytime, but before you recognize the real China, please do not disperse such ugly thing @ internet, which will make you undignified !
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Wires, 18 Aug 2006 @ 10:50am

Wow, haven't seen heated discussion like this for
The mere mention of China seems to stir up a lot of mixed feelings. For every example of China as the rising new economic power, there are stories like this drag us back into reality. But let's not forget even though we are the richest country in the world, we are still haunted by thos horrible images of Katrina. No country is without its own problems. Truth my friends, is some in the middle.

From where I can see, this new proposed regulation is motivated more by territory grabbing than ideology. There are two main ministries in China with regulatory power over internet: the Ministry of Information Industry (MII), which covers mostly telecommunications, and the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television (MRFT), which oversee the media industry. Guess what guys, the transition of old media onto Internet everyone is raving about has created a bit of tug of war between these two ministries. Last year MRFT shut down several IPTV trials conducted by telcos owned by MII. Sounds familiar? RIAA suing ISPs and down loaders?

To read events in China, I always keep one thing in mind: since so much of the economy is still state owned, many of the activities conducted by private enterprises or organizations in this country are carried out by the government in China. So we constantly encounter stories like these where a government agency issues regulations to protect the monopolistic status of industries under its watch.

As for this specific proposal, well, it is not enforceable. I remembered earlier this year the Police department of a city in Western China issue rules that require every web surfer in that city, that's right, everyone who browses internet, to register with the police to curb online crime. Not much real effect other than becoming the laughing stock of the country.

The bureaucrats in China haven't quite figured out the difference between non-enforceable regulations and butt of the joke.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
tracey, 18 Aug 2006 @ 5:40pm

YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANNA!
Anyone who has so many negative views of China, welcome to have a holiday in China and you may understand and see the true face of China today.Do whatever you want doesn't mean let you say silly stuff here without basic understanding of China today! so many misunderstandings!!!

Americans who likes chinese products and feel they are cheap and good quality can keep purchasing chinese goods and those who said so many arguments against it can stop using and never buying chinese products any more, it's all you choice!! don't use chinese goods but keep saying silly stuff here
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Kwame, 21 Aug 2006 @ 9:29pm

Re: Good to be China
Thanks for pointing that out.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Ronius, 14 Sep 2006 @ 9:42am

What's the fuss?
Whenever I hear about the latest "scandal" to happen in China, I always take it with a grain of salt. Sure, maybe us in the west aren't accustomed to having every single video we upload to Google checked; but surely that isn't too different to having every film, video, television programme and the like checked to ensure it has no indecent content. You could argue they are checking this material to ensure it doesn't depict ideologies inconvenient or opposed to the current Chinese government, which I can't deny might not be true. But I have never seen any Chinese person complain about a lack of "freedom". You could again argue that is because of the censorship in China, but even Chinese bloggers, and Chinese people I know IN PERSON, have never complained about life in the country. It's simply a question of what people have been bought up to believe and how to live. American people are bought up to fight for freedom. The Chinese are taught to respect each other. The British are taught to make cups of tea every five minutes (trust me, I've spent my entire life here :P). Most people know that you shouldn't swear or be disrespectful to your elders, and you should watch what you say in order to be kind. What's the difference between this and censorship in China? "Choice" I hear you say? Freedom of speech? Hmm.

Most of these arguments are coming from people living in the same country that hands over their internet reigns to the RIAA, and other such organisations, in order to put people in prison for "sharing music". How is this different from letting the government censor the opinions of others? Most people's browsing habits are recorded when they do a search on google (or even Yahoo, or MSN) but you hear few people complaining about that, and even when someone does, it doesn't stop most people. It's all for the same thing: power (just the difference being that power is money in the west). Even google censors some of its content. How would this be different if the company became a monopoly?

I'm not saying these are good things, that the way of life in China would be great for me, because I have been bought up to have a certain lifestyle and be able to do certain things (and makes cups of tea every five minutes). But if you went to the country, I bet the chances are high that you will hear the Chinese moaning about how America has become too corporate, and that the media have a control over society and what people should like, or even the types of people other people should like (I sure as hell know that people in Britain do!). I completely hate all of this control, I hate monopolies, I hate conservatism, tradition, and I hate the government becoming too involved with what I personally do, or the fact they might be monitoring everything I do and say. And I don't claim to know the Chinese people; for all I know things really could be as bad as the media says it is (although I feel that the media and public's outlook on China has a lot to do with America's Anti-Communist roots, from their break from the British Commonwealth - Which I completely agree they should have done! - to the cold war with Russia, etc).

But if people are happy with life, wherever they are, than no one really has the right to step in and say that a certain way of life actually isn't right.
~Ronius
[ link to this | view in thread ]
George, 31 Dec 2006 @ 7:18pm

Re: dear Frink
Your only mistake Frink was blaming the USA consumer. If I need a tooth brush today , I will not drive all around Boston looking for a "made in USA" tooth brush. Yes walmart buys 80% of its inventory from China. its all corporate GREED and our USA government running this country into the ground.

We will never beat corporate America and we can't beat the slave labor GOODS from China. NEVER!!!

So , if you can'y beat them then I must join them.
I must retire to china in 2007 , because my $1000
will not buy me shit here. And , I will not suck off the welfafe system here.

The only good thing for me is......... I do have a great Chinese woman and her Child over there waiting for me. I love the USA , but I hate what I see.

Wish me luck and I wish the same to you.

George
[ link to this | view in thread ]