[Larry_OHF]

Originally posted by SpiritWarrior: What do you mean by something useful? Like what are they blocked from viewing and what is the government trying to keep from them?

What I meant by something useful was the right to voice and have access to voices of opinion, something we of the free world might take for granted these days because it is hard to imagine a world where we could be told what we were and were not allowed to read or say.

I had read about this censorship years ago, and have forgotten the source that my memory was conjuring, but to be fair, I did some googling to find out if what I remembered was accurate.

The escalation of the government's effort to neutralise critical online opinion comes after a series of large anti-Japanese, anti-pollution and anti-corruption protests, many of which were organised or publicised using instant messaging services, chatrooms and text messages. Although the existence of an internet police task force, estimated at more than 30,000 has been known for some time, attention is mostly focused on their work as censors and monitors. Countless critical comments appearing on internet forums, bulletin boards, blogs, vlogs or any major portals such as Sohu and Sina are usually erased within minutes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_the_People's_Republic_of_Ch ina

If Wiki is not a good enough reference page, I am sure the Harvard Law School's website will be. http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/

That link contains a list of some sites that are blocked and reasons as to why.

We conclude that China does indeed block a range of web content beyond that which is sexually explicit. For example, we found blocking of thousands of sites offering information about news, health, education, and entertainment, as well as some 3,284 sites from Taiwan. A look at the list beyond sexually explicit content yields insight into the particular areas the Chinese government appears to find most sensitive.

[ 03-22-2007, 09:50 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]