China Tightens Electronic Censorship

New York Times:

BEIJING -- If anyone wonders whether the Chinese government has tightened its grip on electronic communications since protests began engulfing the Arab world, Shakespeare may prove instructive.
A Beijing entrepreneur, discussing restaurant choices with his fiancée over their cellphones last week, quoted Queen Gertrude's response to Hamlet: "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." The second time he said the word "protest," her phone cut off.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[SarahCuda2]

05:00 PM on 04/04/2011

Censors right here at Huffington Post regularly censor my "right wing" comments - they're no different than China commies.

[sculptor]

06:44 PM on 03/27/2011

Every time I hear something like this about China I get a feeling deep in my gut that this is a warning sign of serious trouble to come on the international stage. I think all of the trouble that the small authoritarian states like Libya, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea have caused and multiply it times the ratios of China's. to their respective GDPs (40 t0 140.)

[MMRDO]

08:30 AM on 03/24/2011

A lot of people like to talk about how bad it is with the US as the leading superpower, but ask yourself, will the Chinese be better?

[factsaboutchina]

02:15 AM on 03/24/2011

I just sent the word 'protest' in a text to a friend. My phone didn't turn, fall asleep, report me to the local PSB (public safety bureau), or spontaneously combust. This article is pulling at strings for a story.

[netzwerg]

08:17 AM on 03/24/2011

I called a friend of mine in Shanghai, and we both said protest in 4 different languages (english: protest, German: Protest, French: contestation, Chinese: 反对 (fandui)) a couple of times and nothing happened.

I am kind of disappointed now.

[zack5]

11:59 PM on 03/23/2011

Gee China's totalitarian dictatorship sounds like the Republican Party here in America. Which is Led by Obama.
Think about that one.

[LastAngryWoman]

01:17 AM on 03/24/2011

I do. I think about it everyday I post my opinion on the internet.
But I am Canadian...so I think about my leader, Stephen Harper.
Election soon...we'll see what Canadians really want. Will we vote for Freedom or not.

[xtiangodloki]

11:49 PM on 03/23/2011

China certainly censors articles containing specific words on the internet. However it's absurd to think that China has the ability to monitor cell phone usage among millions of people in real time, and cut off connections in reaction to certain words. If such tool exists I am sure the US would be the first in line to get it so it can use it to profile "terrorists" and trace them down.

You figured that NY Times would have higher standards. So two people's phones got dropped after they uttered certain words, that's not nearly enough samples to conclude anything.

[sculptor]

07:07 PM on 03/27/2011

Such a machine could be built using current technology at cost of about 10 cents per phone. Get over the fact that it is cheap and easy to spy on everyone all of the time given a sufficiently motivated tyrant. The implication of this we can no longer tolerate tyrants or tyranny because if we do sooner or later an undefeat-able tyrant will arise that will snuff out all human freedom forever.

[fcs4usc]

09:19 PM on 03/23/2011

The citizens of China should beat the censors at their own game by using super-common words as seeming code-speak for rebelious activity. Then, either the censors wouldn't be able to keep up with all the suspicious communiques, or they'd have to shut everything down and nobody--not even the gov't officials--could communicate about anything at all. For example, words like "bicycle," "rice," and even "China" could be code words for "rebel," "huge protest," and "public square near you!" respectively. Thus, an innocuous sentence like "With oil prices driving up the cost of gasoline, rice festivals all across China are likely to be overrun by bicycles on such-and-such date" takes on a whole new meaning. (Please no accusations of racism or stereotyping! I'm part Chinese, and rice and bicycles really are not uncommon over there. Not sure about the rice festivals, though, so nail me on that if you wish. Anyway, it was hard to come up with words that would provide an example for my point, which was all I was trying to do.)

[sculptor]

07:11 PM on 03/27/2011

Better yet use the phase "communist party" and see long the censorship of that phase lasts

;-) ;-) ;-)

[Grada3784]

08:43 PM on 03/23/2011

I though Anthony Comstock already sanitized Shakespeare beyond all recognition.

[sculptor]

07:13 PM on 03/27/2011

Political freedom is the true forbidden fruit of the PRC not sex like here (although they are kind of hung up about that too.)

[mike72]

08:28 PM on 03/23/2011

Sigh, while the West is bo(mbing around the world, China just cracks down on cell phone usages.

So lame ...

[cmalloy]

03:22 PM on 03/23/2011

Amazing when people turn a blind eye to freedom for dividens

[cmalloy]

03:37 PM on 03/23/2011

dividends.

[jugglefire]

01:32 PM on 03/23/2011

Be careful China, you don't want to mess with the bard, after all, "The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king".

[netzwerg]

01:11 PM on 03/23/2011

The Anti-Chinese propaganda is getting a little bit crazy lately.

[Halsey]

02:31 PM on 03/23/2011

No it's actually tame. Tianamen came and went. Those dead were mere blips. Why? We need China. We need Saudi Arabia. See, dictatorships are only bad when we don't need them. China, a short 3 1/2 decades ago was closed off to us. Today China has a fair few billionnairs, a decent middle class and several hundred million in poverty. I would think it is ripe for a revolution as it is usually when new freedoms are taken away or limited that tick off the masses. If they're always poor, they don't know what they stand to lose.
To me, the hierarchy is a blight. NOT the people, the "adjustment bureau" that realizes they've got to keep a tighter leash or all hell will break lose. Can you fathom a massive Chinese revolution? Wal Mart will have nothing to sell to us anymore.

[scorpioman]

08:43 PM on 03/23/2011

with any luck

[PersonFromEarth]

04:08 PM on 03/23/2011

anti-Chinese propaganda getting a little bit crazy.....hmmm so says the anti-Western fanatic. Kettle, pot anyone?

So much for the shame of the United States regarding it's treatment of Assange and Bradley! LMAO

[Scent]

01:05 PM on 03/23/2011

That's the news? - Someone got cut off?

Wait ...

... does that mean when AT&T cuts me off it is because they crack down on communications and not that they have shi**y service anyway? - WOW - I guess China isn't so bad after all. There one cut off call in over a billion people makes our news. Here we call it service as usual.

[BillyClub]

12:55 PM on 03/23/2011

George Orwell was such a prophet and it's going to get worse...

[Roadrun]

12:04 PM on 03/23/2011

Bad news. Do you know how many planes it takes to establish a No Fly Zone in a country that size?

We're going to need more planes.

[cmalloy]

03:23 PM on 03/23/2011

Economic boost.

[Roadrun]

04:56 PM on 03/23/2011

JOBS!!! Yes, yes, yes.