China Realizes It Doesn't Need To Block All Of iTunes
from the just-the-stuff-it-doesn't-like dept
Following last week’s news that China was blocking access to the iTunes store in response to a Tibet protest album that some Olympic athletes had apparently downloaded, it appears that China’s Great Firewall experts have figured out ways to block on a per album basis. Yes, iTunes is now available again in China — but that particular album remains off limits. Of course, you would think that if China had simply ignored the issue altogether, it would have received a lot less press. But that doesn’t exactly seem to be how they think about things in the Chinese government these days.
Filed Under: china, filters, great firewall, itunes, tibet
Comments on “China Realizes It Doesn't Need To Block All Of iTunes”
but surely it didn't receive a lot of press.
well at least not in china, and i’m sure thats where they were aiming to suppress it.
China is fairly open about the fact it censors the internet. At least to us, but i’m fairly sure that the chinese don’t learn about many of these things.
after all, this is a country that has erased the tianamen square massacre from the internet internally. Sure now people will remember it, but in 15 years???
Re: but surely it didn't receive a lot of press.
In China, this is one action of the great firewall that’s actually welcomed by the people. Trust me when I say this, OVERWHELMING majority of Chinese people have no sympathy to anyone promoting Tibetan independence. And if any outside organization think that’s just Chinese censorship talking, they are sorely mistaken.
On the Tianamen Square, you don’t need 15 years. The sentiment in China at this moment has already turned negative on the whole episode. The people now see the escaped protestors as traitors and opportunists because they advocate severe saction on China at every opportunity, without regard for the life of ordinary Chinese, and one of the escaped student leader later admitted to deliberatly escalating the standoff in the hope of bloodshed, so she can profit from the outrage it will cause.
Why did people’s sentiment turn so quickly? You can thank the internet for that. If these news only came from Chinese government sources, nobody would have believed them. Yes, it may come as a surprise to you, but Chinese people generally take Chinese government propaganda with a huge grain of salt. Without the internet sources, Chinese people would probably think anything negative about them were disinformation by the government.
Don’t believe for an instant that Chinese people are isolated and ill informed. For all the hype and scare played up by the western media, the Great Firewall is more of an annoyance rather than real barrier. Anyone who really wants to bypass it can get around it.
well maybe ...
there trying to make sure every know knows that the Chinese Gov is on Top of “illegal Downloads”.
You can't stop the people
History has proven over & over that you can’t stop people from doing what’s right. Its only a matter of time before someone figures out how to get that album. When you have millions minds against 3 firewall experts its a no brainer China will lose….
Yeah... free tibet..
Let the monks have their servant class back…
Sure now people will remember it, but in 15 years???
Yeah, with the way ‘history’ is taught in schools now, I doubt it. Although; I’ve told my kids about it, they wondered what I had against China during the Olympics.
To clarify that; I don’t have one thing against the people of China, just governments that slaughter protesters. If that kind of action is tolerated, governments all over will think they can get away with it – history has proven that – give Government too much power and they *will* abuse it. It’s just the nature of those who seek political office.
Be nice to see China loosen the reigns, I bet their tourism industry would just explode with tourists.
Re: Re:
Thank you, I was starting to feel alone in boycotting the Olympics.
Don’t worry, the US will be right along side China soon enough.
-This message was brought to you by the Ministry of Truth and The Ministry of Love.
Doubt it
“you can’t stop people from doing what’s right. Its only a matter of time before someone figures out how to get that album. When you have millions minds against 3 firewall experts its a no brainer China will lose”
But that assertion is based on the idea that there are “millions” in China looking to get that music. I don’t have any clue on the numbers but I doubt that’s really the case, and even if it is now people will stop bothering to try very soon.
I agree that if enough people care enough to facilitate change then it will happen, but the Chinese getting this album distributed beyond a few Tibetan sympathizers?
Don’t think so.
How much . . .
resources and energy must they waste on all this granular censorship? Its a lucky thing Americans wont pay for thier own gonverment, without our debt eventually China might not be able to afford all this oppression.
XS
Post a comment again and… make a typo on the third word if… while you are explaining to us how protesters that risked their life where manipulators and how the great propaganda in china is sort of a harmless old tradition… you are actually typing a message someone is holding in front of you with a gun in your head…
Re: Re:
To the Anonymous Coward:
Not only are you ignorant of the world, you are even ignorant of the language. Try to learn how to write in English first, OK?
Apple
Has China really figured out how to filter iTunes on a per album or per song basis? I suspect what is really going on is that Apple is doing the filtering for China in order to get iTunes unblocked there. Would Apple do such a thing? I think so.
Would it be an overreaction for the US to block all imports from China because some of their products are dangerous or faulty or maybe we just don’t like them?
Does anyone know if the Great Firewall of China is visible from space?
Try Freedur, you never seen anything like it
Freedur.com allow me to bypass China firewall with my favorite browser – firefox. You don’t need even to install it – they have portable version.
You can use it even at school. I always watch Yutube at school as my internet at home is so slow. It supports SSL too so I can read my gmail.