There are real moves by the governments in China, Australia and other
parts of Australasia to filter, censor and block elements of the
internet. Do not let 'excitable' Second Life users or those who prefer
to point fingers at them, detract attention from these 'behind-the-
scenes' initiatives.
Although SL has not been officially targeted/named in Australia, in
principle a range of 'un-rated' and unlicensed online services can be
blocked if current regulatory thinking by backward thinking
governments begins to seep through unchallenged by calm OR hysterical
communities.
Yesterday China's Government backed down (delayed) from implementing
what would have been one of the biggest infringements of civil
liberties - more here. We as an educated community around a virtual
world called Second Life have as much a responsibility as any
other...more on the Chinese story here for those who are unaware...
http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/06/what_delayed_chinas_internet_censorship.phpNews today indicating that China has indefinitely postponed its
requirement that all computers sold contain censorship software sounds
like good news for censorship opponents. Did their leaders finally
fold under U.S. political pressure? Doubtful. Through a good
Associated Press article, Chinese Blogger Wen Yunchao provides some
useful insight:
Wen Yunchao, a Chinese blogger who has been among the most vocal
critics of Green Dam, said he did not believe the announcement marked
an end to the plan.
"They are using the word 'delay,' instead of saying they stopped the
plan," Wen said. "I think that it's possible that at some point in the
future the government could still enforce their policy and install
software on personal computers that filters the information people are
able to look at. So, I am calling this an intermediary victory."
On 01/07/2009, at 1:27 PM, Scylla Rhiadra wrote:
>> I think your points were good ones. I would encourage you to let
>> the points
>> stand on their own merits without emotive words such as hysteria.
>> The word
>> "hysteria" is a very strong word, suggesting participants were acting
>> without "any" cognitive reason. I think we need to feel free to air
>> our
>> concerns to check out whether information is in fact true without
>> being
>> labelled by association to the topic. And this is the best forum to
>> explore
>> the truth of an issue.
>
> "Hysteria" is not a favourite word of mine, given its gendered
> associations. However, in defence of John, may I say that I have been
> following this issue quite closely, in blogs, newsfeeds, and in the SL
> Residents Forum, and I can assure you that it is (gender aside) a
> reasonably apt description of many of the responses to this story.
> Much of that response is uninformed and knee-jerk, but that in itself
> IS news, and should be of interest in its own right.
>
> I find it frankly curious that this list seems to be fixated on John's
> fairly (I suspect) casual characterization of the response to the
> story, and not on the implications of the putative "ban" and the
> response it HAS evoked elsewhere.
>
> Scylla
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