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Obama to China: Tear Down this Firewall

Bart Salisbury — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:05:00 -0600

At at townhall style session with Chinese students in Shanghai, President Obama spoke up for an uncensored Internet. “I am a big believer in technology and I’m a big believer in openness when it comes to the flow of information,” the President said in response to a student’s question, following up with “I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes, because then citizens of countries around the world can hold their own governments accountable. They can begin to think for themselves. That generates new ideas. It encourages creativity.” 

Mr. Obama was treading carefully, given the Chinese government’s careful control of Internet content, derisively referred to as “the great firewall.” During the days surrounding the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square, for example, the Chinese government blocked access to popular Web sites, such as Hotmail, Flickr and Twitter. (YouTube has been blocked since March.)

The President added: “I’ve always been a strong supporter of open Internet use. I’m a big supporter of non-censorship. This is part of the tradition of the United States that I discussed before, and I recognize that different countries have different traditions. I can tell you that in the United States, the fact that we have free Internet — or unrestricted Internet access is a source of strength, and I think should be encouraged.”

Mr. Obama’s comments were webcast, via the White House web site, but were only available in transcript form within China. Broadcast of the event was limited to Shanghai.

In a revealing movement, Mr. Obama confessed to be a Twitter virgin. “Well, first of all, let me say that I have never used Twitter. … My thumbs are too clumsy to type in things on the phone.”

Image: Pete Souza/The White House

China Bans Harsh Treatment of Teenage Web Addicts

Paul Lilly — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:04:26 -0600

We wanted to scream bloody murder when our folks would hide the power adapter for our Atari 2600 after a night-long gaming session. For those of you who have no idea what we're talking about, it's the equivalent to having your DSi yanked from your backpack. But no matter which generation you grew up in, it looks like we all had it easy, at least compared to kids growing up in China. Up until recently, youths diagnosed with Internet addiction were subject to beatings and confinement.

New rules have now banned such unpleasantness following the beating death of a teenager in August, which led to the discovery of abuse at other clinics. That was enough for China to reach a revelation that maybe a different approach was needed.

"Parents and teachers must analyze the causes and not arbitrarily condemn, hit, or scold youths...intervention methods that restrict personal freedom are strictly forbidden and corporal punishment is strictly forbidden," read new regulations posted on the health ministry's website.

According to local press reports, China had up to 10 million teenage Web addicts and at least 400 private Internet rehab centers nationwide in August.

Image Credit: fly4chage.files.wordpress.com

China Puts Wrinkle in Panasonic's Plans to Acquire Sanyo

Paul Lilly — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:53:33 -0600

Panasonic earlier in the week said it had begun a tender offer to take over rival Sanyo for an estimated $4.4 billion, which would create one of the world's largest electronics companies. But before that can happen, China is forcing Panasonic to sell off assets in Japan if its to approve the deal, the Financial Times reports.

The landmark ruling, which is based on anti-trust laws introduced in August of last year, has some concerned over the growing power of Beijing's competition authorities. Those who study competition law say the Chinese demands go further than those of the European Union and make international companies take greater notice of China when considering acquisitions.

Should the deal go through, Sanyo is expected to become Panasonic's subsidiary by mid-December, or a year after the two companies first announced the potential takeover.

China's "Green Dam" Web Filtering Initiative Dead in the Water

Pulkit Chandna — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:40:52 -0500

Although, earlier this year, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology mandated that the vaguely named “Green Dam Youth Escort” web filtering software be bundled with all new PCs, including the imported ones, it later postponed the July 1 deadline before eventually scrapping its edict last month.

Now all remaining major PC manufacturers have stopped bundling the software with their PCs, with the announcement that Sony, Lenovo and Acer will no longer be bundling the controversial software.

However, it is still mandatory for those administrating public use computers to have Green Dam Youth Escort installed on such machines. But one unnamed Chinese high school is said to have flouted the government’s order by deleting the software from its computers. It is not often that China offers obeisance to outside pressure.

Image Credit:MSN

4 People Jailed for Selling Pirated Windows XP in China

Andy Salisbury — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:17:20 -0500

Four people were jailed earlier today in eastern China today for selling pirated copies of Microsoft’s operating system, Windows XP.

Hong Lei and Sun Xianzhong were both sentenced to three and a half years and fined a million Yuan ($176,000) by a Suzhou city court. Along with them, two others were jailed for two years and fined 100,000 Yuan. According to prosecutors, they were members of a gang that offered free downloads of the OS and pulled money off of ads. Apparently, more than ten million people had downloaded the software.

The site gained attention from Chinese authorities after officials with the US Business Software Alliance filed a compliant last June.

Image Credit: China

China Softens Stance on Censor Software

Paul Lilly — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:14:34 -0500

Internet users living in China won't be forced to install the controversial Green Dam Internet filtering software after all, said China's industry minister Li Yizhong. The software will, however, still be installed on computers at schools and in Internet cafes, said Li.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Li contends the software was always intended to be optional. But previous plans required the Internet filtering software be installed on all computers sold in China. That plan was delayed indefinitely in June following strong opposition from China's estimated 300 million Internet users. There were also reports of security holes that could potentially allow hackers to gain remote access to PCs with the software installed.

The Green Dam software also drew criticism after it was discovered that more than just pornography was being blocked. Researchers at the University of Michigan found that Green Dam restricted access to webpages containing words related to Falun Gong, a semi-religious movement that has been branded a cult by the Chinese government, PC World reports.

TechCrunch: Dell to Begin Selling Mobile Phones in China Soon

Paul Lilly — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:03:02 -0500

Citing a "source with knowledge of the situation," news site TechCrunch reports Dell is on the verge of announcing a mobile phone in the Chinese market within the next couple of days.

Details remain super sparse, but it's believed said smart phone will be somewhat similar in style to Apple's iPhone with a touchscreen interface and no physical keyboard. Other than that, it's anyone's guess what a Dell-branded phone might be like, and if we were to make a guess, we'd say it will probably be based on the Android platform. Dell has been working with Google on an Android-powered tablet PC, so it's not a complete shot in the dark.

Stayed tuned - if this one comes to fruition, we'll post back with all the gory details once they emerge.

Image Credit: feelphones.com

China Looking to AMD and VIA for Netbooks Larger than 12 Inches

Pulkit Chandna — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:53:40 -0500

Some manufacturers are trying their best to blur the line that separates netbooks from notebooks. According to a Commercial Times report, white-box netbook manufacturers in China have also turned their attention to producing netbooks with large displays. They are said to be manufacturing netbooks, with screen sizes in excess of 12 inches, based on AMD and VIA processors. According to the report, they are deliberately avoiding using Intel processors as the chip maker has placed restrictions on the screen size of Atom-toting netbooks. Besides, they are helped in making their choice by the fact that VIA processors are much cheaper than their Intel counterparts.