The Chinese government has announced its latest futile attempt to hold back the tidal wave of free digital information that is bound to flood the country sooner or later, placing a ban on the licensing of new internet cafes for 2007 while officials investigate supposed breaches of their restrictive rules. Specifically, the thought police want to find out how widespread the illegal renting of licenses and failure to register customers really are, as part of a larger crackdown on internet culture that
began in April at the behest of President Hu Jintao. Let's just hope this moratorium is lifted before next summer, because with the lack of 3G availability by the time the Summer Games hit, it would seem that already-crowded cafes may get pushed to the breaking point as tourists fight one another in a rush to check their MySpaces and get their photos on Flickr.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
brad @ Jun 4th 2007 10:49AM
so thats where all the old CRT's went
noob @ Jun 4th 2007 11:02AM
lol communists.
Elliot J @ Jun 4th 2007 11:05AM
Who uses myspace anymore? It's all about the facebooking dudes and dudettes!
dr.no @ Jun 4th 2007 11:32AM
First, this story is old news. Second, anything the government here says is pure BS, they just say it to sound like tough guys and to appease the old commie diehards. Internet cafes will keep opening either illegally or legally thanks to some "donations" to the local party bosses.
umijin @ Jun 4th 2007 11:51AM
I don't understand why we don't put a moratorium on China - period. This is an oppressive nation, that has no real motivation to democratize. They are poor stewards of their environment (3 Gorges Dam, massive coal fired electrical plants). They can't control the quality of food/feed exports, which we are often finding contaminated with all sorts of junk (melamine to insecticides). And 95% of the population is not benefitting from the supposed economic boom - just the privileged upper and middle class. And the Chinese government is playing a disruptive role in pushing Darfur to stop its genocide.
The consumer nations, like the US and Japan, won't hold China to the same standards as it would say... Iran, Venezuela, or even Burma. Yet we cut them slack because they manufacture all the pretty gadgets we love.
Pathetic.
Jamar @ Jun 4th 2007 12:28PM
Exactly. if the manufacturers had done their homework all our gadgets would be made in the good old USA or Japan. As it stands, though,there's not a whole lot we can do without driving up prices, and we all know how much the Wal-Mart shoppers hate that...
shaun @ Jun 4th 2007 12:02PM
and who says you guys are biased?
but seriously how can anyone NOT be biased against that government? how the hell did they wind up with the olympics, they'l probably censor the results of the races if China don't win
Dan2600 @ Jun 4th 2007 12:58PM
dr.no...I have friends that live in China, this is no government propaganda story, this is really how it is over there. While the MySpace comment is funny, china is in BIG trouble. I Don't understand what the government is thinking over there supporting by pushing a Material, Money-is-god culture and expect communisim (well fake communisim) to work! Look in the "real" news today and see how china's market is crashing...yikes...
Chuckles McGee @ Jun 4th 2007 3:17PM
In the wake of all that crashing, the Shaghai SSE composite seems to have doubled in the last 6 months or so. At least prior to today's crash.
AbsentBlue @ Jun 4th 2007 12:58PM
I guarantee that if you want people to break from this so much then put proximity timers on the computers. If you're close enough to reach the keyboard or read text on the monitor then the timer counts down warning when you've got to a certain point. Only by stepping away for a certain amount of time will the timer restart, and yes, some asshat walking by can interrupt however the duration of restart time doesn't start over if this happens, it just pauses.
Furthermore, on a more sociological note, with the enforcement and commitment usually imbued into Chinese students how could the government have not predicted something like this occurring? To add to that don't they know these kids have enough persistence to overcome or defeat whatever laws or boundaries they place?
Aaron @ Jun 4th 2007 1:12PM
When did we become democracy zealots?
I love this country as much as anybody but unless China is doing something directly to threaten the citizens of America (and I don't mean the US corporations) or the Chinese citizens themselves ask America for help because they can't change their own political system, it is none of our damn business what form of government they have or don't have.
Should they clean up their environment and be better stewarts? YES. Should they not interfere with stopping the genocide in Darfur? YES. Should they be a democracy because we think it is the best form of government? None of our damn business.
That's part of what our problem is now, always trying to tell everybody else how to live. We need to take care of the log in our own eye before we go worrying about the splinter in someone else's eye.
Will @ Jun 4th 2007 1:47PM
Aaron, you should really read up on the PRC's human rights abuses. Falun Gong, Tibet, freedom of religion and speech, numerous documented instances of torture and ill-treatment based on race or creed, you name it. All other problems with that aside, I really can't understand why a country with things like that in it's CURRENT history was chosen to host the Olympics, of all things.
Eric Huang @ Jun 4th 2007 2:56PM
And so your saying that Slavery was a great thing? The Opium War was just dandy?! The imperialism of of the world by the western powers was a good thing? Jeez, by reading these comments above I seriously get the image of some white prick who thinks that oh, America, MUST BE GREAT! WTF, first I agree with Aaron. Since when is it the US's time to go "police" other countries? Hm? Look at what happened in Somalia, for example. We go in for food, and we fucked and leave the country just as fucked. Jeez, no wonder were afraid to go into Darfur. Look at Iraq, its a fucking mess. I'm sorry but EVERYTHING that the US/Europe does, and what the government says is INSTANTLY GREAT AND REDEEMING.
Will S @ Jun 4th 2007 5:24PM
#1: Forget the CRTs. I, for one, won't be in a mad rush to do anything at this internet cafe; I'm faster with old-school Palm Graffiti than "ergonomic" keyboards.
Vortex @ Jun 4th 2007 9:26PM
> Should they clean up their environment and be better stewarts? YES. Should they not interfere with stopping the genocide in Darfur? YES. Should they be a democracy because we think it is the best form of government? None of our damn business.
Are you not, in other words, saying that the U.S. (or individuals therein) should pressure them, through the force of politics, to treat their territory in certain ways and to limit the external expression of their interests, but that it cannot suggest methods for choosing officials to which it is partial? The U.S. could see its interests served by pushing its concept of democracy or republicanism, so, just as with the other two forms of self-serving behaviors, one's governmental strategies should be open to evaluation by others. That is, if one can effectively force the hand of a member of another government, one should, at least, have license to discuss the methods of picking that person.
skyyrie @ Jun 5th 2007 11:09AM
You retarded,China banned the Internet cafe,cuz,the kids keep playing the MMORPG day and night,some teenagers even deceased in the small cafe rooms,after palying 60hours constantly.What you fucking bastards are talking about?