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October 21, 2005

Comments

Jon Garfunkel

Rebecca--

A question for you, or Seth, who will invariably show up here, and who has long ago made the point about censoring access points. The very thing that frustrates media junkies about podcasts-- their lack of scannabilty-- would this actually frustrate automated censorship?

Certainly the PRC could compensate by doling out more censor work, and having higher penalties for the podcasters who say forbidden words.


Regarding the control of access points, one also needs to be concerned about this headline:
Colleges Protest Call to Upgrade Systems

Oh, and drop your pose about "useless links." Here's the Tom Friedman column: Chinese Finding Their Voice.

The Nirvana Poster

Love Tom Friedman! I don't get China and I can't imagine the difficulty in censoring the internet (or how unbelieveably aggrivating and dibiletating this would be).

They give up this kind of control soon.

Rebecca MacKinnon

John, you're absolutely right, podcasts are harder to censor and scan at the moment. This may be an area where China will try hard to lead the pack in innovation... but you're right, it's also perhaps a reason for their popularity.

John Beale

its freer access to that network that will create the revolution - i think its a great opportunity for china and I hope thay use it.

John Beale

It's freer access to that network that will create the revolution - i think its a great opportunity for china and I hope thay use it.

Stephanie Rose

Online discussions of current events, especially through Internet bulletin board systems (BBS) and Weblogs, or "blogs," are having real agenda-setting power. The Chinese government has used enormous financial resources to set up government-sponsored Web sites at all levels of government, from national to regional and provincial. About 10% of all sites in Chinese cyberspace are directly set up and run by the government. Over 150 news sites have been directly established by the central and local government. The problem I think is that these official sites have signally failed to gain the trust of the 100 million mostly young, urban and educated netizens. On the contrary, people simply go to any number of independent Web sites, including BBS and blogs, to read what they think is interesting. Popular BBS such as Tianya community and Xicihutong and individual bloggers enjoy far more online popularity, and therefore real influence, among netizens, than official Web sites such as Xinhua.com. What do you think about it Rebecca?

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