[WikiEN-l] Tearing down the Chinese Firewall

Sat May 13 15:22:19 UTC 2006

On 5/13/06, Prasad J <prasad59 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Although I agree with you guys that these censorship laws are unfair,
> I do believe that there are other organizations (like the U.N or the
> International Human Rights Commission) to deal with (what we consider)
> oppression. However not even the U.N has the authority to prevent
> people from being prosecuted for breaking laws which were legislated
> upon by elected Governments-in this case the Chinese Government.

>From your description the UN doesn't seem like it *is* dealing with
the situation.  Maybe the International Human Rights Commission is,
but if so they obviously can't solve the problem alone.

> Again, let us note an important point-the present Government of China is an
> elected one, it is not a military junta or a dictatorship so it will
> be rather difficult for us to actually prove that they are suppressing
> the Chinese in the manner in which (for example) the North Korean
> Government oppresses its people.

Again let me note that the fact that the Government of China is
elected does not make one bit of difference in my opinion.  Even the
majority of people living in a geographic location does not have the
right to oppress.

> The Chinese government is receiving
> some flak from the international community as a result of these
> policies, however as the Chinese Government has pointed out-these are
> their internal affairs. Having said this, I do stand by my earlier
> statement that to aid Chinese citizens in their efforts to break the
> law of their land (even if the said law is unjust) is tantamount to
> abetting a crime.
>
Sure, it's abetting a crime, pretty much by definition.  However, it
is my opinion that abetting such a crime as spreading truthful
information is perfectly just.  In fact, I consider it my duty to abet
this crime.

> PS,Rob:I'm from India, not the U.S so I'm not sure about how the
> American Government handles privacy issues.

The US government is itself funding people to "help Chinese users
access blocked sites."  So the very government which claims me as a
citizen is abetting a crime.

"This isn't the first time that Anonymizer has looked for ways to beat
Chinese censors. A couple of years ago, the company was hired by the
Voice of America (VoA) to develop software to help Chinese users
access blocked sites. Anonymizer is now working with the VoA on a
similar project for Internet users in Iran."

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,125303,00.asp

"The Voice of America (VOA) is the official international broadcasting
service of the Government of the United States. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_america

Anthony