US Bill Creating the Great Firewall of America

“Today, the West feels very shy about human rights and the political situation. They’re in need of money. But every penny they borrowed or made from China has really come as a result of how this nation sacrificed everybody’s rights… With globalization and the Internet, we all know it. Don’t pretend you don’t know it. The Western politicians—shame on them if they say they’re not responsible for this. It’s getting worse, and it will keep getting worse.”

History of Chinese Internet Censorship

In the western world, China has long been infamous for its human rights abuses. Prior to Deng Xiaoping’s re-opening of China to the west in the late 1970′s and early 1980′s, these abuses were largely hidden from the West. With the advent of globalization, the PRC quickly realized the dangers of the internet to China’s fragile societal balance. Beginning in 2005, China began enlisting Western aid in Chinese internet censorship. Western companies like Cisco and Google have long abetted the Chinese government in establishing the so-called Great Firewall of China.

As Western social media developed, the PRC quickly recognized the power of these sites and moved to restrict its citizen’s access to these web sites. While some of these actions may appear to be antitrust behavior to allow local Chinese companies a competitive edge, make no mistake that the primary reason for censorship is the ongoing restriction of information from Chinese citizens. Nonetheless, as the Chinese web has developed, Chinese ‘netizens’ actively find ways around the Great Firewall and discuss social issues around the world. Numerous free tools such as Freegate, Freenet, and Vtunnel provide solutions for Chinese netizens to access the internet in the free world. As Chinese netizens find ways around the firewall, China has continued to step up its policing of the Chinese web.

The Power of Social Media in China

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http://theagilepanda.com/2011/11/15/us-bill-creating-the-great-fire...

Google, Facebook, Twitter, EBay, Mozilla, et al., send a letter to Congress speaking out against the PROTECT-IP and Stop Online Piracy Act.

Letter

http://www.protectinnovation.com/downloads/letter.pdf

Don't Censor Censorship Opponents: Let Us Testify!

Irony Alert: The House is holding hearings on sweeping Internet censorship legislation this week -- and it's censoring the opposition!  The bill is backed by Hollywood, Big Pharma, and the Chamber of Commerce, and all of them are going to get to testify at the hearing.

But the bill's opponents -- tech companies, free speech and human rights activists, and hundreds of thousands of Internet users -- won't have a voice.

As if you need a reminder: This is the most offensive Internet legislation we've seen in years.  It will give the government and corporations new powers to block Americans' access to sites that are accused of copyright infringement, force sites like YouTube to go to new lengths to police users' contributions, and put people in prison for streaming certain content online.

This sham of a hearing represents everything that's broken about our political system. Will you sign the petition at right, demanding that opponents of the Blacklist Bill be allowed to testify this week?  (It'll generate an email to them too.)

PETITION TO JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN LAMAR SMITH AND RANKING MEMBER JOHN CONYERS:  The so-called "Stop Online Piracy Act" will kill innovation and undermine free speech rights.  You need to give the hundreds of thousands of Americans who've spoken out against it a chance to make our case at this week's hearings.

Companies against the SOPA bill are being denied the right to testi...