Twitter Will Set Them Free

How profit-seeking businesses advance democratic principles in China

David Harsanyi | June 10, 2009

On his recent trip abroad, President Barack Obama declared that the United States could not impose its values on other nations. But what if we were actually complicitous in undermining our fundamental values elsewhere?

One could argue that American corporations, such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard, would be abetting censorship if they acquiesced to China's recent demand that all personal computers sold in that country be equipped with software that allows government officials to block access to Web sites that disseminate "unhealthy information."

The software, called "Green Dam-Youth Escort"—in this case, "green" does not signify the innovative, virtuous, environmental kind of soft tyranny we like—is designed ostensibly to filter out sexually explicit sites, but in reality, it will allow China to monitor Internet use, ban political sites, and collect personal information.

Wouldn't these companies, in effect, be aiding the Communist regime in its attempt to gain unprecedented control of information on the Internet?

Yes and no.

This is not the first time American corporations have yielded to Chinese censorship demands. Several online search engines, including Google and Yahoo, already are complying with "censorship requests" from China—no searching for "Falun Gong" or "crackdown in Tiananmen Square"—and other similarly freedom-resistant nations.

The trouble for the Communist nation is that Internet users have rather effortlessly gotten around the "Great Firewall of China." And if history is any indication, ingenuity will prevail once more. If we've learned anything as a free people, it's that you can't keep the masses from their pornography—or, on occasion, even the truth.

But if we believe that the U.S. has no business imposing its values on other nations, why would we expect corporations to spread the good word?

Some critics have presented the issue as a straightforward choice between corporate "profits" and enlightened "principle." (Profit, predictably, being the immoral choice.) Which is technically true. But what if profit is the constructive way to advance our principles?

The 40 million personal computers sold in China last year, many of them in the hands of once-isolated people, will do more to liberalize that nation than any government sanction or well-intentioned protest we could concoct. When, after all, has any policy of isolation or trade restriction helped spread democracy or undermine tyranny?

It won't surprise onlookers that around the 20th anniversary of the military crackdown in Tiananmen Square, Internet users across China had problems accessing popular networking sites, such as Twitter, MySpace, Hotmail, Yahoo, and many others.

In areas all across China, these sites allow people to interact, exchange ideas and grievances, plan political opposition, or simply discuss frowned-upon topics. Across China, users openly complained and speculated about the reasons for the shutdown, which in itself is a sign of growing independence.

To combat this kind of Internet liberty, China's government utilizes more than 30,000 censors. It deploys unknown thousands of true believers, who troll Web sites and affix positive and fawning comments about the Communist Party on message boards and Internet discussions.

The more computers China has the more censors they'll need. The more computers the Chinese use the more difficult it will be to control the flow of information.

One would hope that American companies engage the Chinese government and do all they can to protest and avoid policies that undermine fundamental American values, such as freedom of speech, abroad. If their consciences won't let them do business in China ... oh, whom am I kidding?

Comments

|6.10.09 @ 12:02PM|#

Oh God not another Axel Rose thread. Can't that guy overdose already?

Xeones|6.10.09 @ 12:05PM|#

Oh God not another Axel Rose thread.

Awesome.

|6.10.09 @ 12:10PM|#

Just shut down the thread. No one is going to top John.

Seriously, shut it down and just walk away.

Warty|6.10.09 @ 12:19PM|#

Nothin' lasts forever, even cold November rain...

Warty|6.10.09 @ 12:20PM|#

Let's make this thread even worse and talk about how Rand al'Thor would have dealt with this porn filter.

Xeones|6.10.09 @ 12:23PM|#

Shut the fuck up, Warty.

|6.10.09 @ 12:29PM|#

Ya know, "Truth Porn" would be an awesome name for a blog.

|6.10.09 @ 12:37PM|#

...how Rand al'Thor would have dealt with this porn filter.

No sweat.

Warty|6.10.09 @ 12:38PM|#

The Light burn you, Xeones, you wool-headed man.

Jeff P|6.10.09 @ 12:41PM|#

And we diplomatically recognize this country because...?

Xeones|6.10.09 @ 12:43PM|#

And we diplomatically recognize this country because...?

...we owe them a fuck-ton of money?

Tomcat1066|6.10.09 @ 12:43PM|#

Gotta love the Asain Mail-order Bride banner ad in this one :)

EJM|6.10.09 @ 12:58PM|#

How about a free Dr Pepper for everyone who comments in this thread?

(This comment is not officially sanctioned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group or its bottlers and distributors.)

BTW, don't forget to check out Rebecca MacKinnon's blog for more.

|6.10.09 @ 12:59PM|#

This has been brought up before and I will bring it up again: The Chinese censor's task seems to be hopeless.

If the word 'freedom' is forbidden, couldn't the Chinese bloggers substitue 'fr33d0m' instead (or whatever the Chinese language equivilant is)?

|6.10.09 @ 1:10PM|#

"If the word 'freedom' is forbidden, couldn't the Chinese bloggers substitue 'fr33d0m' instead (or whatever the Chinese language equivilant is)?"

They use a sympbol for each word rather than a letter. You would have to substute another whole word for that to work.

|6.10.09 @ 1:37PM|#

"They use a sympbol for each word rather than a letter. You would have to substute another whole word for that to work."

I guess they can substitute ones that look similar.. like instead of 自由 "Freedom," 目油 "Eye Oil"

|6.10.09 @ 1:38PM|#

If you're gonna live in China, learn to speak English.

Gimlet|6.10.09 @ 1:50PM|#

"If you're gonna live in China, learn to speak English."

Your Kung Fu is most powerful Slackhopper.

Someone Who Doesn\'t Want to L|6.10.09 @ 2:12PM|#

Warty:

Let's make this thread even worse and talk about how Rand al'Thor would have dealt with this porn filter.

When your only tool is balefire, everything looks like a forsaken.

Rex Rhino|6.10.09 @ 2:20PM|#

Also, how can we complain about China wanting to censor the Internet, when virtually all western democratic governments are trying to legislate to do the same?

The only reason western democracies haven't been as successful as China, is the western democracies are run by lawyers and such, who are pretty clueless about the technology... while China is run by efficient technocrats with engineering degrees. European countries, as an example, have all banned a bunch of political topics from the internet, it is just that those politicians haven't the first clue what a "firewall" is in order to demand a national firewall.

Chinese internet censorship isn't because they are any less of a liberal society, it is simply because western politicians are no longer competent enough to run a proper police state.

Obama|6.10.09 @ 2:27PM|#

"western politicians are no longer competent enough to run a proper police state."

Yes we can!

Jonas|6.10.09 @ 7:48PM|#

Obviously Tomcat1066's comment is the most perspicacious.

Paul|6.10.09 @ 8:00PM|#

What's twitter?

Paul|6.10.09 @ 8:03PM|#

Chinese internet censorship isn't because they are any less of a liberal society, it is simply because western politicians are no longer competent enough to run a proper police state.

Very interesting perspective. I think you're on to something.

Cal Lipigian|6.10.09 @ 9:03PM|#

I guess they can substitute ones that look similar.. like instead of 自由 "Freedom," 目油 "Eye Oil"

No it's easier than that. For each Chinese characters, there are many that have the same pronunciation. Instead of Freedom, you could say "剚鱿" (erect cuttlefish) which sounds identical. There are 250 different combinations with this sound. If you allow the tone to be different, the number of combinations goes into the thousands.

|6.12.09 @ 11:56AM|#

This is why I'm ambivalent about "boycott Chinese Products!" movements: While I don't like the idea of my money being used to advance the communist Chinese government, I also know that money and technology do more to advance the cause of freedom worldwide than all the balloon-juice issued forth by all the politicians in the world.

d|6.12.09 @ 9:36PM|#

Can't they just wipe the Windoze off of their machines and install Linux? Ooops. Spy programmie gone. (Nothing against the corporation, which does excellent research; it's just that their OS happens to suck hard donkey balls.)

|6.14.09 @ 6:15PM|#

Wow. It took twenty-seven posts for some basement-dwelling Linux trendoid to chime in with oh-so-fashionable MS-bashing (psst: You forgot to spell it "M$"). That's pretty slow, in terms of Hipster Response Time; maybe a couple more cans of Rockstar are in order.

Mr Bill|6.19.09 @ 1:48PM|#

I support Microsoft as a company and hate the "anti-monopoly" action that has been taken against them...

But I agree that Windows is pretty lousy nowadays.