Let the Games Begin: Censored
China’s government has backtracked on an earlier pledge that journalists would have unfettered Internet access free of censorship by state authorities during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Now, that promise is gone and journalists will be prevented from accessing any information about the occupation of Tibet, Taiwan independence, the Tiananmen Square protests, and other sources of information deemed subversive by Chinese leadership.
China is not doing itself any favors with their explanations for the blockage: initially, a government spokesman blamed the problems on site hosts. Now, they are acknowledging the problem has nothing to do with hosting or technical issues.
However, China is not alone. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) signed off on the decision, stating that it is not “games related.”
But will it work? CNET has a different take on this, and a rather obvious one: can’t a Western journalist simply email the home office and request some information to be cut and pasted and sent back via email? With the Chinese really have the onions to censor email? Of course, this isn’t as immediate and free as unencumbered access, but it’s not as if China will be able to completely shut out intrepid journalists from getting information. Plus it doesn’t exactly look good and won’t make China any friends.
Technorati Tags: Beijing Olympics, China Censorship
