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TERRIBLE BEAT
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Dec 18th, 2003, 03:33 PM
The article on China seems a little extreme. They are obviously referring to very specific forums (perhaps even Government?) where moderation is taking place. Do you really think that on every single messageboard in China there is someone waiting in real time to stop that sort of thing? There are thousands of Chinese internet forums where citizens openly speak their mind, not to mention real-time IRC chatrooms, ICQ, MSN, and other instant messengers, etc. Ofcourse by doing so one is always taking some sort of a risk, but the Government just does not have the resources to police the Internet 'Big Brother' style like this article so implies. In a country with a population of around 1.6 billion people and a skyrocketing internet rate where "78 million" of the people participate online (usually in 'net bars') this idea that the Chinese people are constantly under fear of a watchful eye is naive at best. Do the math: 66 arrested for "dissidence" online is not that significant.
And is it just me or is the fact that he refers to Hu Jintao as China's 'emperor' a little odd?
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