China’s virtual cops pinpoint web dissent

[Random]

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China’s virtual cops pinpoint web dissent
By Mure Dickie
Published: February 17 2006 19:19 | Last updated: February 17 2006 19:19

internet policeWith their big blue blinking eyes and their quirky personal websites, there is no denying the cuteness of the cartoon cops at the front line of China’s battle for control of the internet.
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But the role played by Jingjing and Chacha, the animated online icons recently introduced by police in the southern Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen, is entirely serious.

The cartoon couple patrol the city’s news and discussion websites to scare off anyone who might be tempted to use online anonymity to break China’s laws, says Chen Minli, director of the Shenzhen City Public Security Bureau’s Internet Surveillance Centre.

“Now internet users know the police are watching them,” Ms Chen says in an interview at the Bureau’s gleaming new 28-storey building in central Shenzhen.

Such official online oversight is highly controversial elsewhere. Human rights activists fiercely condemn the efforts of China’s ruling Communist party to stifle online political debate.

In recent weeks, moves by Yahoo, Microsoft and Google to bow to varying degrees to Beijing’s party censors have exposed them to fierce criticism from both customers and members of the US Congress.

But the no-nonsense Ms Chen and her comrades in the Surveillance Centre are proud of the online enforcement role played by Jingjing and Chacha (whose names are made up of the Chinese characters for “police”).

“All around the world there are internet police, but they always operate backstage... No other internet police have stepped to the front of the stage,” she says. “We really feel that this is a historic breakthrough.”

Jingjing and Chacha operate by appearing as clickable adverts on local websites and as virtual users of the hugely popular QQ instant messaging system operated by Nasdaq-listed Tencent.

In a demonstration at the Surveillance Centre, part of an internet division that has seen its staff more than double to 100 in less than a year, officer Xu Qian shows how the Jingjing icon keeps pace whenever a user of a local discussion website scrolls down a page.

“He is just like a policeman, interactively moving along with you. Wherever you go, he is watching you,” Mr Xu says.

By clicking on the icons, users can report crimes or learn about the rules on online conduct. Jingjing and Chacha also have their own websites with a selection of music including the “Song of the People’s Police”.

Ms Chen, a police technology veteran, says inspiration for the personal sites came from her 15-year-old daughter who keeps her up to date on new internet possibilities.

But deterrence remains the main goal for Jingjing and Chacha, who are just part of a huge system of government internet control that includes blocks on thousands of websites and sophisticated content filters.

Ms Chen says the mere appearance of the icons makes users think twice before posting sensitive messages. When Jingjing and Chacha arrived on local websites, the number of postings that had to be filtered out because of suspect content fell more than 60 per cent. I

When the pair send warning messages to websites under investigation for alleged fraud, the sites’ operators often immediately shut them down, she says.

China’s internet laws do not stop at such crimes. Users are also barred from a range of offences including the posting or even consultation of content judged to challenge the political order, incite secession, promote “feudal superstition” or harm the “honour of national institutions”.

Such laws have been used to jail people who peacefully question the Communist party, and they lie at the heart of debate overseas over the role international internet companies should play in China.

Ms Chen says since their official online launch in January, Jingjing and Chacha have not played any role in such cases. She has little time for suggestions that China controls the internet too tightly.

Only one in 50 internet users wants to break the law, and they are the only ones to complain about a lack of liberty, she insists, the web is “completely free” for those who stay within the “legal framework”.

Indeed, Ms Chen suggests US officials might want to consider adopting their own Jingjings or Chachas to police Google services following the US company’s refusal to share information about its searches with the government.

In any case, she says, overseas critics should not judge China by their standards.

“In my family, if my child does not lay her chopsticks down properly, then I will smack her, but maybe in your family you are too relaxed about such things,” Ms Chen says. “Each family has its own rules and countries are the same.”
http://news.ft.com/cms/79042bce-9ff8-11da-a703-0000779e2340.gif
As Many people as there are in China you would think the Communists would have been OVERTHROWN by now.........http://news.ft.com/cms/s/63d181a0-9fe6-11da-a703-0000779e2340.html

[Nemo]

I have no problem with China - or any other society - controlling and censoring the internet. They have that right as a separte culture with their own values and ideas.

[smadewell]

As Many people as there are in China you would think the Communists would have been OVERTHROWN by now.........Operant conditioning (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning) is a powerful force to overcome, Random. One can even be conditioned to disregard their own survival instinct, which ... along with the sex drive ... one would think is the most powerful of human impulses. :drive: That's why the PTBs are so fond of using it. ;)

[Random]

I have no problem with China - or any other society - controlling and censoring the internet. They have that right as a separte culture with their own values and ideas.
Considering your Political views Nemo....You being allright with Communist opression does not surprise me....:evil:

[smadewell]

Considering your Political views Nemo....You being allright with Communist opression does not surprise me....:evil:no fair! you're peeking through that blindfold! :cool:

[Sean]

Considering your Political views Nemo....You being allright with Communist opression does not surprise me....:evil:

Actually Random, i think Nemo is just expressing the fact that China is not a democratic country. Its their country, and the people who run it make the rules.

[Random]

No people need to be treated like cattle by jack boot thugs either democratic or not....

[Nemo]

America ought to worry about setting it's own example. We aren't very good at that. It is US who wants to cattle prod the rest of the world. I don't think China as military bases in 100 countries like we do. Every society has the right to have its own set of values and it's own politics. America does not have a 'society' so we don't understand the idea. We are a plague - an anti-society of materialism and capitalism that destroys all other values. Our anti-society seeks to pull down every other actual society and make it obey the rules of the jungle.

[smadewell]

No people need to be treated like cattle by jack boot thugs either democratic or not....and yet they all are ... to one degree or another.... go figure!

[smadewell]

America ought to worry about setting it's own example. We aren't very good at that. It is US who wants to cattle prod the rest of the world. I don't think China as military bases in 100 countries like we do. Every society has the right to have its own set of values and it's own politics. America does not have a 'society' so we don't understand the idea. We are a plague - an anti-society of materialism and capitalism that destroys all other values. Our anti-society seeks to pull down every other actual society and make it obey the rules of the jungle.it's called social darwinism and ... the game ain't over yet. what goes around ... comes around. one of these days my native american kinsmen are going to wake up and the white man will be gone. then they'll say, "whew! that was a long time coming. let's hope we don't have to suffer another plague like that."

btw, ... the next knock at your door Nemo will be the good people from the Dept. of Homeland Security, ATF, NSA, FBI, etc., etc., etc.

Democracy!? Name one true present day democracy (i.e., "the common people rule").... This countries a republic! It's never been a democracy!

They're coming to take me away, AWAY! They're coming to take me AWAY!

[Talon]

America ought to worry about setting it's own example. We aren't very good at that. It is US who wants to cattle prod the rest of the world. I don't think China as military bases in 100 countries like we do. Every society has the right to have its own set of values and it's own politics. America does not have a 'society' so we don't understand the idea. We are a plague - an anti-society of materialism and capitalism that destroys all other values. Our anti-society seeks to pull down every other actual society and make it obey the rules of the jungle.

Thats a load of Sti kang dung!
No American society?
Surely you jest or its you that don`t understand America and her ideals.
How,about embracing the idea of FREEDOM!
Thats what America stands for,I support freedom loving people here as well as freedom loving people everwhere in the world.

Lets pretend Keimiman square did not happen.:shrug:

[Nemo]

Talon,

What do you mean by freedom? You mean, like I am free to smoke pot in my own home? That sort of freedom?

[Sean]

Freedom is an illusion.

[nightcat]

Democracy!? Name one true present day democracy (i.e., "the common people rule").... This countries a republic! It's never been a democracy!


"When I hear the word 'democracy'
I reach for my headphones..."

--Robyn Hitchcock, "The President", 1985

I'll back Smade up on this'n.

A democracy means that 51% beats 49% every time. All laws in a democracy would be duly voted upon by the populace and either enacted or vetoed accordingly. There could be no electoral colleges nor elected representatives who vote in your stead in a democracy.

There have been precious few democracies throughout history.

We have -- theoretically, or, at least, this is what we have IDEALLY -- a semi-democratic REPUBLIC. The Pledge of Allegience bears this out. We don't say, "...and to the democracy for which it stands...".

The term "democracy" has been misused/misapplied for so long that now there are many scholars who have no bloody idea what the word truly means.

I hate to hear a word misused so frequently!

[Talon]

Talon,

What do you mean by freedom? You mean, like I am free to smoke pot in my own home? That sort of freedom?
Freedom to achieve with out un-due taxation.
Freedom to think.
Freedom to express ideas and opinions with others.
Freedom to move about and do my business as I wish.
Freedom to pick my teachers and follow my religion.

With feeedom come responsibility and incidently my freedom ends at your nose and visa versa.

BTW,you can smoke weed in your home as I have never heard of anyone being busted for that and that alone,without there being some other circumstance involved.

[Talon]

Freedom is an illusion.
Many thousands of Americans have scarificed their lives for what you call an illusion.
Not only for our own but liberating others too.

[Sean]

Many thousands of Americans have scarificed their lives for what you call an illusion.
Not only for our own but liberating others too.

Old men send children off to fight and die in what is nothing more than a giant game of chess.

They give us the "right" to vote every four years. We get the "right" to vote for one group of PTB's over another group of PTB's, when in truth they are all the same.

We get to work, dress ourselves, feed and cloth ourselves, and they call this being free. When in fact they got the game of slavery down really good. They no longer have to feed us, or give us clothing to wear, or give us shelter to live in.

We slaves have to do it ourselves now.

We have been programmed since children into thinking this is freedom

They tell us this is freedom. Its all a lie. Its all an illusion.

They try to force other counrtries into democracy. When in fact the people do not want it.

Things are a lot better in Iraq since they have been liberated. Not. In fact its many times worse there than it ever has been. Even when they were ruled by a dictator.

Freedom is an illusion. Always has been. Always wil be.

[smadewell]

Many thousands of Americans have scarificed their lives for what you call an illusion. Not only for our own but liberating others too....

Freedom to achieve with out un-due taxation.
Freedom to think.
Freedom to express ideas and opinions with others.
Freedom to move about and do my business as I wish.
Freedom to pick my teachers and follow my religion.

With feeedom come responsibility and incidently my freedom ends at your nose and visa versa.OH! You must mean those freedoms that the PTBs can LEGALLY snatch away from us any time they decide to create another pocket or two of chaos as a so-called "justification" for their actions, huh?

Just because we're currently grazing on the open range ... don't think the cattle barons can't herd us into a pin and pack us off to the slaughter house of their choosing. Our current level of freedom is ... at best a temproary watershed. Worse than that ... it's a mythical construct ... an illusion ... a mere rug that can be yanked out from under us at any point in time.

Yep! Lots of people scarificed their lives for mythologies and assorted illusions. To what end and for the ultimate benefit of ... mankind or a select few? Time will tell.... We shall see....

Executive Order Number 12148 (http://www.fema.gov/library/eo12148.shtm) created the Federal Emergency Management Agency to interface with the Department of Defense for civil defense planning and funding. An "emergency czar" was appointed. FEMA has only spent about 6 percent of its budget on national emergencies. The bulk of their funding has been used for the construction of secret underground facilities to assure continuity of government in case of a major emergency, foreign or domestic.

Executive Order Number 12656 (http://www.disastercenter.com/laworder/12656.htm) appointed the National Security Council as the principal body that should consider emergency powers. This allows the government to increase domestic intelligence and surveillance of U.S. citizens and would restrict the freedom of movement within the United States and grant the government the right to isolate large groups of civilians. The National Guard could be federalized to seal all borders and take control of U.S. air space and all ports of entry.

Executive Order 10990 (http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/jfkeo/eo/10990.htm) allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.

Executive Order 10995 (http://www.disastercenter.com/laworder/10995.htm) allows Seizure of all communications media in the United States.

Executive Order 10997 (http://www.disastercenter.com/laworder/10997.htm) allows Seizure of all electric power fuels and minerals, public and private.

Executive Order 10998 (http://www.disastercenter.com/laworder/10998.htm) allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.

Executive Order 10999 (http://www.disastercenter.com/laworder/10999.htm) allows Seizure of all means of transportation, including personal cars, trucks or vehicles of any kind and total control of highways, seaports and waterways.

Executive Order 11000 (http://www.disastercenter.com/laworder/11000.htm) allows Seizure of all American people for work forces under federal supervision including the splitting of families if the government finds it necessary.

Executive Order 11001 (http://www.disastercenter.com/laworder/11001.htm) allows seizure of all health, education and welfare facilities, public and private.

Executive Order 11002 (http://www.disastercenter.com/laworder/11002.htm) empowered the postmaster general to register all men, women and children in the U.S.

Executive Order 11003 (http://www.disastercenter.com/laworder/11003.htm) allows seizure of all airports and aircraft.

Executive Order 11004 (http://www.disastercenter.com/laworder/11004.htm) allows seizure of all housing and finance authorities to establish Forced Relocation Designated areas to be abandoned as "unsafe."

Executive Order 11005 (http://www.disastercenter.com/laworder/11005.htm) allows seizure of all railroads, inland waterways and storage facilities, public and private.

Executive Order 11051 (http://www.disastercenter.com/laworder/11051.htm) specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

Executive Order 11921 (http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo/eo-11921.htm) allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months.

Executive Order 12919 (http://www.disastercenter.com/laworder/12919.htm) Signed June 3, 1994, by President Clinton. Encompasses all the above executive orders.

[Sean]

Just because we're currently grazing on the open range

Free range people. Ha! I hear they taste better when raised like that.

[Talon]

Good post,Smade.
I realize every right to freedom we have can be stripped away as alot already have been.

However,I think standing up for Freedom as freemen should is a good cause.
I tend to look at all events through the prism of how it will effect our freedoms.

Are we sheelpe or men?

[smadewell]

Free range people. Ha! I hear they taste better when raised like that.So says 9 out of 10 Dang Lizard People! Better than assorted rodents even! (http://www.x-entertainment.com/articles/0916/vid-rateater.wmv) Like I've said many times.... We've got a keep our sense of humor about us. (No! I don't buy into David Icke's Lizard stuff!)

[smadewell]

Good post,Smade.

I realize every right to freedom we have can be stripped away as alot already have been.

However, I think standing up for Freedom as freemen should is a good cause.
I tend to look at all events through the prism of how it will effect our freedoms.

Are we sheelpe or men?That's the ultimate question! What do we do? Roll over and bleat? Rise up and defeat? Head to Canada in retreat? Prepare and be discreet? Shut up and take a seat? Stand around and beat our....

Well, you get the picture. Are we mice or men? Sheeple or people? We shall see.... Time will tell.... The clock is ticking.... The trap line is be laid out before us.... Woe to those who can't see it happening....

[Sean]

Yes Smade. You are proving that we are not, or never were really free.
True freedom is not something that can be given or taken away at the wim of the Gov't that happens to be in power at the time.
We have just been prgramed into thinking that this is what freedom is.
When the USSR ceased to be we were told it was because democracy finally won out. When in fact the USSR collapsed because of economic reasons. Too many people on the top being supported by too few at the bottom. Another illusion, a dream.

Much the same way it is in the U.S. and Canada. There are signs it is well on the way in falling now. Eventually it will fail to. Leaving the top spot for the next group who can play ruler of the sand box for a while.

All you have to do is look at history. Civilizations are on top for a while, then they degrade, and eventually fail and collapse. Keeps the archeologists busy. In a thousand years from now they will be digging up the remains of our civilization.

My guess the new king of the sand box will be China. Its been a while since its been their turn.

Oh yea. I almost forgot to add.

We seem to be at the "give them bread and circuses" part of the collapse.

[smadewell]

Oh yea. I almost forgot to add. We seem to be at the "give them bread and circuses" part of the collapse.That's about my take on it too.... History does have a nasty way of repeating itself. :yup:

[Nemo]

Freedom to achieve with out un-due taxation.
Freedom to think.
Freedom to express ideas and opinions with others.
Freedom to move about and do my business as I wish.
Freedom to pick my teachers and follow my religion.



The working class pays about 30% of their income to federal taxes, let alone state and local rip offs. That's a little excessive in my book. What do we get for all this taxation? Healthcare like Saddam gave the Iraqis? No. Free college as the French have? No. We get prisons and nukes. The lazy rich in America who sit on their ass and make incomes from stock dividends and capital gains pay 15% in taxes. Sound fair?

These freedoms you mention.....couldn't they say all of that in Canada? Norway? England? Germany? Bulgaria? Russia? I have a friend in China and he has no problem doing or saying as he pleases. They are not free to stir up trouble against the government there, but are we? Try it and find out.

As for pot, you sure as hell CAN be busted if a neighbor smells pot coming from your house. You will have your door kicked in by jack-booted thug cops. Then your house will be searched. If you are growing a plant or two you may have your property seized - your computer, your house, your car etc. How do you think they get all those cars for the public auction in every city in every state. Wake up and smell the warden's coffee.