Last week Twitter, Facebook, and Livejournal went down for a few hours. I didn't really care, technology does that right? Then it turns out it was a hacker job. This time it was political. I suddenly became interested. I've been reading about it, and found literally thousands of articles written about this. So it is linked to a blogger who goes by "Cyxymu". I found their livejournal page (couldn't read it though). Feeling overwhelmed I picked a couple to read from sources I knew of.
From CNN.com
From New York Post
From Washington post
There are heaps, all you have to do is google it if you are interested.
It also rang bells of another politically motivated hacker attack that interested me. The Melbourne International Film Festival was pressured to dump a documentary called The 10 Conditions of Love by the Chinese government. (see article here) Their website was also attacked by hackers.
"The hacker with a screen name of "oldjun" replaced festival information with the Chinese Flag and slogans against Rebiya Kadeer, an exiled Uighur leader who features in a documentary being screened at the Festival. The Chinese Government accuses Kadeer of instigating the bloody violence in the Xinjiang region of north-western China in July, a charge she denies." (see source here)
Anyway I'm going a little crazy with the hyper-linking but I do find it all very interesting.
I don't really know what i am trying to say here, but i think that its interesting because even though the web is used as a voice for ordinary people to say anything they like about anything they like, it is all still being governed, overlooked and watched? Anyway I am kind of scared to write anymore on this issue...just in case. But thought it was all somewhat relevant :) Thanks!
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The thing with those trying to censor either Cyxymu or Rebiya Kadeer is that they end up generating way more publicity for them and their cause than they ever could have easily generated themselves. Rebiya says this in an article from The Age.
ReplyDeletetheage.com.au/national/defy-china-uighur-leader-20090811-egjz.html
But the idea that private communications are being watched is a scary thought indeed. The idea that people could censor what we view or publish is even worse, and a very real problem in China, Iran and elsewhere.
The internet is such a powerful tool for free speech, but there are those in power who want to stop people from having access. Net censorship is a big problem and definitely something to stand up against worldwide.
Sometimes I wonder how this sort of international relations, diplomatic issue would have been dealt with, if we didn’t have the internet? In traditional ways perhaps. Also, this whole issue has now suddenly become an Australia vs China IR problem! It’s come at a bad time for Australia I think - what with the Rio Tinto GM for China, Stern Hu being arrested! http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,27753,25750342-462,00.html
ReplyDeleteThen I read this rather interesting quote and it made me think about neo-liberalism, communism, freedom of expression, art for art’s sake, etc with another perspective:
“As George Orwell noted in his unpublished introduction to Animal Farm, censorship in free societies is infinitely more sophisticated and thorough than in dictatorships, because ‘unpopular ideas can be silenced, and inconvenient facts kept dark, without any need for an official ban.’ - http://www.monthlyreview.org/301rwm.htm
Robert W. McChesney, ‘Corporate Media, Global Capitalism’ in Simon Cottle (ed.), Media Organization and Production (London: Sage, 2003), 27-39