http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14138267
China has stepped up its attempts to control the internet, by shutting down 1.3 million websites for 2010, resulting in 41% fewer sites in China.
External sites are blocked by the Great Firewall of China, such as youtube, twitter, facebook, and other such social sites where the conversation about the Chinese government cannot be controlled. Of course, as was posted recently, the Chinese government is looking to purchase a large stake in facebook. China's Internet Police task force is rumored to include approximately 30,000 members, making it the largest such censorship force in the world. And to ensure there is no doubt among the people, in Shenzhen for example whenever users visit website and forums, they see two cartoon police characters floating on the screen, as a reminder their posting is monitored.
Crazy to think what it must be like under such an information vacuum. That is not to say that China is alone in heavy censorship, as you can see in Singapore and the middle-east. The United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia actually rank next on censorship though, with Australia looking to surpass everyone if they ever actually pass the Rabbit-proof Firewall of Australia the ACMA is constantly promoting... in fact, for gaming I usually browse the banned game list to find anything that's decent, lol! I heard it can be up to a $100,000 fine for importing Mortal Kombat for example....
China has stepped up its attempts to control the internet, by shutting down 1.3 million websites for 2010, resulting in 41% fewer sites in China.
External sites are blocked by the Great Firewall of China, such as youtube, twitter, facebook, and other such social sites where the conversation about the Chinese government cannot be controlled. Of course, as was posted recently, the Chinese government is looking to purchase a large stake in facebook. China's Internet Police task force is rumored to include approximately 30,000 members, making it the largest such censorship force in the world. And to ensure there is no doubt among the people, in Shenzhen for example whenever users visit website and forums, they see two cartoon police characters floating on the screen, as a reminder their posting is monitored.
Crazy to think what it must be like under such an information vacuum. That is not to say that China is alone in heavy censorship, as you can see in Singapore and the middle-east. The United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia actually rank next on censorship though, with Australia looking to surpass everyone if they ever actually pass the Rabbit-proof Firewall of Australia the ACMA is constantly promoting... in fact, for gaming I usually browse the banned game list to find anything that's decent, lol! I heard it can be up to a $100,000 fine for importing Mortal Kombat for example....
