China Shuts Down 91 Websites

The Chinese government threatened to block 19 websites unless objectionable material was removed. Its warnings were not heeded so now it's taken down 91.

From the original list of 19 sites earmarked by China that have "failed to heed requests to get rid of unsuitable material," the big names (Google, MSN and Baidu) still stand, but there's been a lot of fallout.

The 91 websites were taken offline due to their "pornography and vulgar content"; but this also includes Bullog.cn, a Chinese blog portal, which has been down since Friday.

Luo Yonghao, the founder of Bullog.cn, cited a notice from the Government saying that his website had been closed because of the "amount of political harmful information".

The state-run Chinese portal, however, paints a different picture.

On Monday, a month long siege by the "Special Operation Office for Crackdown on online Porn and Lewd Content" began. The original 19 websites "posted online apologies after accusations of being slow to delete porn and lewd content or links to pornographic sites." (This includes Google and Baidu)

By Thursday, this had risen to 91 sites from the original "33" that were named and shamed, as public distribution of pornography is illegal in China.

Whether it was 33 named and 19 apologized, or 19 shamed, I don't think we'll ever know. Opinions differ depending on who is asked.

However, with Europe, America and Australia putting their own 'clean up' squad to work, the whole world has to be watching how this plays out.

Source: ZDnet

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I'm dubious as to the real reasoning behind all this. The chinese government are well known for their censoring of all information. It concerns me that they need to be so private, and censor everything.
But the latest ideas for censoring the internet is also a concern. Where will it end? Will they start claiming that information about the country is unsuitable? It's certainly not going to stay limited to porn.

The Chinese government will soon learn that there is far too much information and pornography on the Internet to censor it all.

There you go, China

You've earned 5 points!!

91 sites...

The Government of China thinks that there are 91 porn sites on the internet...

*doublefacepalm*

Oh you crazy Chinese! You can never hope to delete all the porn, there's just too much of it to delete.

"If you got rid of all the porn from the internet, there'd only be one website left and it would be called bringbacktheporn.com"- Perry Cox

Of course the Chinese are censoring the internet, they even tried to do it during the olympics, and the foreign press go all uppity about not being able to search for content relating to Tibet. Now that they're out, the Chinese are starting to gear up for yet another crackdown...

Damn communist bastards, if the people rose up they could overthrow the regime, theres over a billion people!

someone please tell these people about 4chan
but seriously as long they stay far away from my preferred entertainment sites, no problems here

Great going once again China, that's like trying to remove all the sand from the beach with a tablespoon.

The Internet should retaliate with it's most powerful weapon, 4chan....but not 4chan, it will transform into a new being of lols and creepy porn, it will become: 4China, "fear it Bitches". I'm waiting for that, not sure if I'm excited or terrified though.

What I believe is happening is that all Chinese sites that have this are being banned, but with the double-talk going around, you can never be quite sure.

It may be that Chinese web ISP's direct directly through the Chinese portal, so that they can block or take down sites.

There's also the problem that pornography is sometimes only seen as real people involved in sex. Nudity in China is often seen just walking down the street, and drawings/animation often doesn't count, as seen by the Japanese.

But if there are any Chinese ex-pats who can explain this better, I'd love to have some feedback.

Well... they can only pull down things hosted in their own country ip address range so the rest of the porn consuming world is free form their crazyness. Not that it would do them much good. People would still get porn from other sites, only they won't be making money out of subscriptions.

Zetona:
The Chinese government will soon learn that there is far too much information and pornography on the Internet to censor it all.

After all, "The Internet is for Porn!"

Apparently for $40 a year (less than an Xbox Live subscription, for reference) you can get a VPN that will allow you to get around China's firewall if you're in China

And they don't actually go after you for that. They just figure if they make it inconvenient enough for people they won't be bothered to get around it.

The point I'm making here is that China so desperately wants to be able to censor information and they just aren't good at it. They're like 80s Cartoon Villains.

Only a trillion more websites to go. Seriously china, a penny saved is a penny earned. Stop wasting your time.

The_root_of_all_evil:
However, with Europe, America and Australia putting their own 'clean up' squad to work, the whole world has to be watching how this plays out.

Why is it that governments are starting to try censoring the Internet? **dons tinfoil hat**

In the words of Axl Rose:
"You think you got it all locked up inside
And if you beat 'em enough they'll die
It's like a walk in the park from a cell
And now you're keeping your own kind in hell"

To me, internet filtering IS my own kind of hell. I thought the internet was about free speech within reason.

Edit - I have just had a thought, there is a fair bit of China mocking here, T.E. could be a next site to go...

Nimbus:
91 sites...

The Government of China thinks that there are 91 porn sites on the internet...

*doublefacepalm*

Exactly what I was thinking. Theres probably more porn than everything else combined. Why doesn't China just ban the internet, and have some sort of China only network? That way they can regulate it to their hearts' content.

I'm not sure China realizes how much this limiting of free cultural exchange will hurt them in the long run.

AceDiamond:

The point I'm making here is that China so desperately wants to be able to censor information and they just aren't good at it. They're like 80s Cartoon Villains.

Rassing frassing internet porn. :)

sucks to be chinese... no porn

AuntyEthel:

Nimbus:
91 sites...

The Government of China thinks that there are 91 porn sites on the internet...

*doublefacepalm*

Exactly what I was thinking. Theres probably more porn than everything else combined. Why doesn't China just ban the internet, and have some sort of China only network? That way they can regulate it to their hearts' content.

i thought they did have a china only network o_O

sirdanrhodes:
In the words of Axl Rose:
"You think you got it all locked up inside
And if you beat 'em enough they'll die
It's like a walk in the park from a cell
And now you're keeping your own kind in hell"

To me, internet filtering IS my own kind of hell. I thought the internet was about free speech within reason.

Edit - I have just had a thought, there is a fair bit of China mocking here, T.E. could be a next site to go...

Actually, the internet is all about free speech, no reason required. There are anti-gay sites, there are anti-black sites, there are pro-Nazi sites, there are "here's some child porn" sites, etc. The internet shouldn't be censored. Even if all of those things I just listed make me want to vomit blood.

I actually wish them luck... God know's they're gonna need to put half of their population on deleting information off the internet to actually delete information faster than it appears... What I fail to understand is why google is considered vulgar and pornographic, IT'S A SEARCH PROGRAM, I guess they only found porn there because that's the only thing they SEARCH for...

Umm... okay?!

The internet gave people a sense of true freedom. The boundaries the self righteous, self centered dickheads have imposed on society (not just in China, but the whole world) are starting to crumble.

If you don't like sexually explicit websites, then don't surf them. Don't try to impose your values and ideals onto others. The computer age gave the average person the weapons they need to fight against such oppression, and by pushing people into a corner, they are only paving the way for their own downfall.

The internet gives us great insight in what an anarchist society would likely be like. A society where you are free to post whatever information you want, search for whatever information you want and learn whatever you want. Net neutrality is an important milestone and we must protect it. Maintaining net neutrality will be the key to the future changes to our societies.

I will be keeping an eye on this news.

commie bastards

Nimbus:
91 sites...

The Government of China thinks that there are 91 porn sites on the internet...

*doublefacepalm*

I know right? Isn't like 90% of the internet porn? lol

Christ, the labor goverment (OZ) is likely taking notes on how to get it right.

There's more than a billion of them in the world today. You'd better learn to like them, that's what I say.