Can Zuckerberg Leap the Great Firewall of China? 102
Hugh Pickens writes "The Guardian reports that Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is in China and has met with Robin Li, the head of Baidu, as he toured the facility of the biggest search engine in China. Zuckerberg has made no secret of his desire to expand in China, where Facebook has been blocked by the government censors' Great Firewall since 2008. On a recent global map of Facebook users, China appeared as a black spot, though it has a bigger internet population than any country on earth. 'How can you connect the whole world if you leave out a billion people?' says Zuckerberg. China already has two Facebook imitators: Kaixin, with 80 million users, and Renren, with 150 million, but these lack the economic clout and global reach of Zuckerberg's company although they do have the advantages of language and cultural awareness, as well as the protection of the Great Firewall. 'If Facebook wanted to enter China, it would not have to change its function, because netizens here are used to copycats already, but it must, like other international internet companies, obey Chinese laws and regulations,' said Hu Yong, a professor at Beijing University's School of Journalism and Communication."
Not a chance (Score:3, Interesting)
Facebook allows way too much communication and freedom. Both are dangerous to their regime.
Too late . . . (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Not a chance (Score:5, Interesting)
Facebook allows way too much communication and freedom. Both are dangerous to their regime.
I believe the Chinese government would love Facebook: all those people offering up the intimate details of their lives and identifying who their friends and family are, complete with photographs! If I were the Chinese gov't, I'd simply demand Facebook give me access to all of the user data. Malcontents could quickly and easily be dealt with.
Is facebook really blocked? (Score:4, Interesting)
I used to live in China, so I personally know quite a few Chinese people. And loads of them have facebook accounts (and use them regularly) And these aren't people necessarily tech-savvy enough to work around the firewall with proxies, etc...they just use facebook.
So, while I doubt this story is completely wrong or made up, I don't understand. Do they block it in some places and not others? Do I just know a few weird outliers that somehow managed to view it despite it being blocked? Is there something more to the story? I don't get it.