The
Internet is not the same for everybody. Despite it’s reputation as a
borderless, global, connected, democratic network, access and content
filtering based on national boarders has become the norm. The BBC,
for example, filters content for copyright reasons to visitors
accessing their website from outside of Great Britain. Much more
serious, however, is the heavy political censorship happening in
countries like China, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. China, being the most
extreme example, strictly censors political content on the web
through the blocking of IP addresses and dynamic content filtering.
With the support of western technology companies such as Cisco,
Yahoo, and Google, The Golden Shield Project (sometimes referred to
as the the Great Fire Wall of China) censors the web for China’s 1.3
billion inhabitants. The Internet police in China is estimated to
contain over 30,000 workers, and is responsible for blocking content
such as Tibetan independence, Taiwan independence, police brutality,
the Tienanmen Square protests of 1989, freedom of speech, democracy,
religion, and some international news.
BUT
NOW, you can surf the experience: The Firefox add-on China Channel offers internet users outside
of China the ability to surf the web as if they were inside mainland
China. Take an unforgetable virtual trip to China and experience the
technical expertise of the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry
(supported by western companies). It’s open source, free and easy.
Click
here if you wish to slow down your computer, be unable to read BBC
news, have thousands of blogs blocked, and have your computer freeze
fairly regularly for no apparent reason.
figo, lo voglio!