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China Can’t Deal With Pirates
John Stith
Staff Writer
2006-02-14
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
Most of the time, pirates in any venue are looked down upon. Those who spread secrets aren't always the good guys. In China, however, these two groups, while being looked down upon are becoming heroes to some as they attempt to break through China's intense scrutiny and censorship of all types of media.
The tech world screeched in horror as Google agreed to censor their search results in China. Quickly, a way around it was found by typing search requests in all capital letters. China restricts bloggers, music, movies and lots of other content it deems socially unhealthy.
In a recent article in the Guardian, they use the example of the film "Memoirs of a Geisha" because a Chinese woman portrays a Japanese geisha in the 1930s. This period was time when the Japanese waged a very nasty war against the Chinese. The Chinese government banned the film on the grounds it would cause social unrest.
Chinese bloggers have attacked the film but they've also attacked the Chinese government. As one blogger, Laoyang, said in the Guardian story, "When the government banks something, it just makes me want to know more about it."
A few statistics were also in the story that makes this a little more relevant:
Software
Computer stores in Beijing offer to install a pirate version of Microsoft software for less than £1. The US patent office estimates that more than 90% of all intellectual property sold in China is fake.
Internet
More than 45% of Chinese internet users download music on a daily basis, and 37% frequently download movies, according to the China Internet Network Information Centre. The vast majority pay nothing.
While these activities are also illegal in the United States and many other countries, it's very difficult for the government to control them. The biggest difference is the reason for the regulation. In the U.S. financial control is the name of the game while China is about social control.
As China progresses further into its new social revolution, control of information is going to be much more difficult as is the rampant piracy. Even they recognize that. The question though for us could be how long American companies like Yahoo, MSN and Google will continue to cooperate with these tactics, even the point of turning these people in the government.
About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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