Most readers surely know that the media went into a frenzy over a story, a false one, that Google search was now fully blocked in China. Rebecca MacKinnon summed it up very well, and there is an interesting discussion led by Matthew Ingram here at GigaOm. The mindless replication of this “story” was amazing to watch; [...]
Last week I participated in a Sinica Podcast on the Internet in China and Zhang Wuben and his magic mung beans. I somehow ended up as the sole defender if the efficacy of properly practiced traditional Chinese medicine; the other guests seem to believe it is some kind of Chinese voodoo. From the Sinica site: Mere [...]
This post originally appeared on Sinocism.com, my blog about more general China topics. China’s efforts to build its “soft power” have been in the news over the last few months. So far none of the coverage of the media strategy for soft power has discussed what may be the fatal flaw in the government’s strategy-the [...]
Rebecca MacKinnon has written a must-read post on the Chinese government’s recently issued White Paper on the Internet in China. She provides the best explanation I have seen of the government’s approach to managing the Chinese Internet–”networked authoritarianism”. As Ms. MacKinnon writes: China is pioneering what I call “networked authoritarianism.” Compared to classic authoritarianism, networked [...]
John Markoff of the New York Times discovered more information about the attacks on Google that precipitated the company’s retreat from China. In “Cyberattack on Google Said to Hit Password System” he writes that: …a person with direct knowledge of the investigation now says that the losses included one of Google’s crown jewels, a password [...]
The Machinima film ”网瘾战争 War of Internet Addiction” won top prize at the 2010 Tudou Festival, as Tudou co-founder Marc van der Chijs describes on his blog. Congratulations to 性感玉米 SexyCorn ( @CorndogCN on twitter) and his team for making such a good and important film. You can see it on Tudou below, or watch an English subtitled version [...]
Kaiser Kuo has launched Sinica, a new podcast series focused on China. The first installment discusses Google in China and features Kaiser, Jeremy Goldkorn from Danwei.org, and yours truly. You can listen to the podcast here. Popup Chinese provided the recording, editing and hosting of the podcast. If you are learning Chinese and have not [...]
According to various news reports March 31 was the deadline for Google to renew its Internet Content Provider (ICP) license with the Chinese government. This morning I could not find an ICP number on any page of the services remaining on Google.cn–Music, Maps, Shopping, Video, Translate–as required by the Chinese government. Google 265, hosted at [...]
Cui Jian (崔健) performed at Google’s China launch party in 2006. I was in attendance. He was an interesting choice by Google, and he gave a good performance. If Google were to hold their China departure party, perhaps Cui Jian would sing two songs. First, he might sing “Balls Under The Red Flag” (红旗下的蛋). Then [...]
If the rumors and speculation are correct, Google.cn may shut as soon as this week. Most pundits will likely praise Google for staring down the Chinese government and choosing “doing good” over “doing evil”. To help Google shareholders and the rest of the world better understand this decision (assuming it occurs of course), would Google [...]
Items of Interest