[Marxism] Re: Wall Street Journal: "Google Meets China"

[dwalters@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Walter, I don't think "its about you" (visiting other countries and giving them
"advice"). China is fanatically trying to *erase*  any information, good OR
bad, about Falun Gong...and lots of other topics. It's *totalitarianism* in
it's electronic form. ALL interet traffic goes through ONE portal in China.
They fanatically erase or try to stop (and seek out and 'destroy' those who try
to access it) everything and anyone who questions governmental policy. It is,
IMO, fascist. There is not other word for it that I can think of. Well, you
kind of state "countries can do what they want". OK. Even the MIA was blocked
for some months a few years ago (we get blocked, then unblocked, there never
appears to be reason for it). That's because it is, at its base...a
bureaucratic society. If you want to see how the Christain Right and the
righwing of bourgeois democracy would LIKE to see electronic data distribution
over the WWW...simply look at the Chinese gov't.

So...you state "While the Chinese authorities try to regulate information, as
all societies do, each in their own way, others do the same thing. In a place
like the United States, information can be buried in a myriad of choices."

My, my, my, read 1984 lately? This sounds like truth-speak or whatever you call
it. The US is bad off because we have "too many" choices, and this is like the
Chinese who have...one choice? We try to keep the NSA from following our links,
the Chinese arrest your ass if you seek to question it's policies *inside*
China. Zimbabwe can arrest union activists and the Egyptian gov't can throw
dissidents in jail and that is "OK" because...of self-determination? Why don't
we close up shop and go home? Where ARE you going with this line of reasoning
Walter?


On Cuba. I didn't even know that Cuba blocks these sites. I suspect it's more
'punishment' for these groups than any actual practical censorship.
Especially, as you note, one can get the Miami Herald, and other right wing
newsapers online pretty easily there. My dime-store take on this is that the
Cubans probably loose more than they gain. It allows these Cuban mafioso
activists to point to Cuba and say "See! See!". It actually becomes harder and
harder for gov'ts to do any of this, especially, as in China, people who really
want 'free unfettered' access to the WWW can do so via satellite links as easy,
if not easier, than land lines...and you don't need a Chinese service provider
to get this service. Anyway, that would be my comradely advice on that subject.

See, with China, we have bunches of capitalists providing this fascist software
to a pro-capitalist gov't that is using censorship to prevent people from
organizing against their opppression...capitalist oppression. Envriormental
news gets censored, disaster news gets censored, and workers news gets
censored. I know a guy, a leftist, who actually works form the BIGGEST US
filtering company employed by the Chinese gov't. They do this routinely. He
said all a fascist gov't would have to do here is to...move the software to all
US service providers and not even CHANGE the filters...since the Chinese gov't
wants to censor the SAME things the US gov't would want to! Ha! 1984......


David



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