China's Parallel Online Universe

An anonymous reader writes "China is increasingly operating an online parallel universe where social media clones 'mimic the functions of the most popular, internationally recognized social media applications, such as Facebook and Twitter. The replicas, however, come with a major catch: they systematically comply with the Chinese Communist Party’s strict censorship requirements.' They are satisfying the growing demand of hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens for social media tools, reducing incentives for them to circumvent the 'Great Firewall,' Freedom House warns. Testing by researchers found that a search for the names of seven prominent Chinese lawyers, activists, and journalists on Sina Weibo returned no results, only an Orwellian notice that 'According to related laws and policy, some of the results are not shown here.'"

Re:Comment Censored

[Chicken_Kickers]

We Malays have a saying: Kutu diseberang laut nampak, gajah dibawah hidung tak nampak, meaning you can see a flea across the ocean but you can't see the elephant under your nose. Look after your own freedoms first before preaching about it to others. The rest of the world wishes your freedom fighters a good fight. You are at the front line of Internet freedom. Any laws passed by your government will sooner or later, willingly or unwillingly, be enacted in my country too. Your fight is for all mankind. Good luck America and God bless.

You'd be surprised

[mykos]

A lot of people like their government-imposed veils, and they really, truly believe the propaganda deep down. Even in the U.S., after the Wikileaks stories broke, a lot of people agreed with the state line, saying "Some things need to be kept secret and the government needs to have its secrets for our own protection". One or two good mouthpieces and the talking points will get out.

Re:West does similar things...

[blahplusplus]

"While I am sure, there are plenty of corporate shills on Slashdot, most randroids look like genuine idiots to me."

While some may be, slashdot used to be a bit more diverse in discussion it's become a lot more monolithic and droning as time has gone on. The more intelligent users usually upvote things they don't agree with if it adds value to discussion and I've found that quality declining as time has gone on and I'm not the only one who's noticed it. My trust in moderation systems have gone down as corporations and government have the resources to game these systems easily. Especially with bot driven systems. Not to mention corporations and government hiring "communications" divisions or "marketing" divisions doing the same shit.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/03/29/craigslist-ad-for-right-wing-commentators-draws-suspicion-and-elicits-a-few-giggles/ [nationalpost.com]