Xiao Qiang: China’s Internet censors will lose in the long run

I saw him talking about this on CNN last night, and you can read excerpts of his unlinkable Wall Street Journal article over at CDT. I agree that it’s a losing battle in the long run. But you have to give them an E for effort, and an A+ for managing to run one of the most disciplined and ruthless censorship machines on the planet. And, of course, they get by with a little help from their friends.

The Discussion: One Comment

I hope the technology can be used to filter out (child)porn and racism. I don’t support using it to censor political opinions. Let crazy people just talk, even if they say the most outrageous things. However, I understand why the PRC does this. They think it’s needed to ensure stability, and they are only buying time. I personally believe the Internet can be very useful to expose corruption and injustice, so this is made known and be dealt with. If you give people an outlet for the grievances, I believe that would actually increase stability in China, and therefore building a harmonious society would have a bigger chance of succes.

October 1, 2005 @ 9:50 am | Comment

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