I'll never understand so many people that walk through their life so narcissistic, so disdainful of everything. Every movie sucks, all new music is lame to you and you refuse to laugh until other people laugh. You only read the eccentric and mundane, refuse anything mainstream and wear what others deem weird. You try to be different, non-conformist, dark. But inside you're the biggest conformist of them all aren't you? Trying to be cooler than everyone else so you don't slip between the cracks.
Or maybe. Maybe I do understand. And that's the problem.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Google removes Chinese censorship: Part of a larger project?
A cyber attack by some possibly patriotic Chinese hackers against the Google Goliath today had caused some rather controversial feedback as Google responds with a no-holds-bar smack down against the Chinese government. According to NPR this morning, the hackers hit the gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists as well as "lifting" a few Google specific company secrets. After contacting the US state department Google initiated retaliation for the attack... but not against the still mysterious hackers in question... but the Chinese government.
Google only makes up about a third of the search engine power in China after Baidu, a Chinese search engine that seeks streams and mp3 rips that would be illegal in the US. Nonetheless, it is still a very prominent and important part of the Chinese internet structure for now. Today Google announced that it would be pulling ALL censorship from the it's Chinese search engine. China, who has attempted to censor the internet in it's country for some time now, blocks pages like youtube, twitter, facebook ect, as well as any sort of human rights activism pages. Their so serious abotu controlling what citizens can and cannot view that they have been threatening to create it's own "World Wide Web" central to China specifically, allowing foreign viewership at their discretion.
Need I remind you that many have tried to "muzzle" the internet for some time, up to and including the US government. The fact remains that the idealism of free exchange of information is a monster that no one is able to completely control. Even in China where internet censorship is at it's worse, the clever web user will still be able to hit controlled sites using things like proxy servers to bypass controlled networks. If Google pulls censorship, the company and the Chinese government must agree on a way to legally implement an uncensored search engine in China (not going to happen) or pull out. As one commenter put it "China is fighting a losing battle." But are they?
And is there more the picture here? There are a thousand rumors that circulate around Google since their abrupt climb to the top of the stock market and their ever expanding projects leaving so many mystified. One thing is for certain though: Google supports and benefits from the idealism of the Complete free exchange of information. From buying thousands of miles of unused "dark" fiber optic cable, to their entry into the smart phone business with the new Nexus 1, to the implementation of the satellite powered Google Earth it is evident that Google has plans. Big plans.
No I am not supporting the rumor that Google is trying to conquer the world. (Not yet anyway) With an almost complete monopoly on revolving ads on the web, it is in the companies best interest to promote the complete free exchange of information worldwide. That means NO more censorship in eastern countries, reducing the cost of broadband and making it accessible to everyone, (Finland has almost a 100% internet usage ratio to citizenship. The US has yet to implent such an idea by forcing service providers to allow everyone access to the net but Google appears to be furthering the idea by itself) and working its way into even more markets that access the web. (Thus the probably reason they have entered the grand world of smart phone devices and application building)
So what does this mean? It means that Google's decision to break it's censors in China was possibly (gasp!) premeditated. It fits into the company's behavior towards the free exchange and I can't say that I don't support it. China is another big holdup towards the betterment of the human exchange and the global economy (a story for another time). Nonetheless, the battle between the Chinese government and the search engine giant should prove to be quite educational.
And now to discredit myself by diving a little further into the conspiracy theorem, what are the chances that the SAME DAY Google is hit by Chinese hackers, Google's biggest competitor in China, Baidu, is hit by Iranian hackers? After paralyzing the search engine, Chinese attackers retaliated against several Iranian sites, only to spur further attacks against random Chinese web servers. To further complicate the matters Baidu posted a message on their main page stating that the problem originated as a DNS problem from the US. If I were the paranoid type I might theorize that the bigger picture has some sort of third party trying to sow discontent among the nations. Then again that's IF I were the paranoid type.
-The Dawson
Sources: NPR Public Radio
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jan/12/iranian-hackers-chinese-search-engine
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jan/12/google-china-ends-censorship
Google only makes up about a third of the search engine power in China after Baidu, a Chinese search engine that seeks streams and mp3 rips that would be illegal in the US. Nonetheless, it is still a very prominent and important part of the Chinese internet structure for now. Today Google announced that it would be pulling ALL censorship from the it's Chinese search engine. China, who has attempted to censor the internet in it's country for some time now, blocks pages like youtube, twitter, facebook ect, as well as any sort of human rights activism pages. Their so serious abotu controlling what citizens can and cannot view that they have been threatening to create it's own "World Wide Web" central to China specifically, allowing foreign viewership at their discretion.
Need I remind you that many have tried to "muzzle" the internet for some time, up to and including the US government. The fact remains that the idealism of free exchange of information is a monster that no one is able to completely control. Even in China where internet censorship is at it's worse, the clever web user will still be able to hit controlled sites using things like proxy servers to bypass controlled networks. If Google pulls censorship, the company and the Chinese government must agree on a way to legally implement an uncensored search engine in China (not going to happen) or pull out. As one commenter put it "China is fighting a losing battle." But are they?
And is there more the picture here? There are a thousand rumors that circulate around Google since their abrupt climb to the top of the stock market and their ever expanding projects leaving so many mystified. One thing is for certain though: Google supports and benefits from the idealism of the Complete free exchange of information. From buying thousands of miles of unused "dark" fiber optic cable, to their entry into the smart phone business with the new Nexus 1, to the implementation of the satellite powered Google Earth it is evident that Google has plans. Big plans.
No I am not supporting the rumor that Google is trying to conquer the world. (Not yet anyway) With an almost complete monopoly on revolving ads on the web, it is in the companies best interest to promote the complete free exchange of information worldwide. That means NO more censorship in eastern countries, reducing the cost of broadband and making it accessible to everyone, (Finland has almost a 100% internet usage ratio to citizenship. The US has yet to implent such an idea by forcing service providers to allow everyone access to the net but Google appears to be furthering the idea by itself) and working its way into even more markets that access the web. (Thus the probably reason they have entered the grand world of smart phone devices and application building)
So what does this mean? It means that Google's decision to break it's censors in China was possibly (gasp!) premeditated. It fits into the company's behavior towards the free exchange and I can't say that I don't support it. China is another big holdup towards the betterment of the human exchange and the global economy (a story for another time). Nonetheless, the battle between the Chinese government and the search engine giant should prove to be quite educational.
And now to discredit myself by diving a little further into the conspiracy theorem, what are the chances that the SAME DAY Google is hit by Chinese hackers, Google's biggest competitor in China, Baidu, is hit by Iranian hackers? After paralyzing the search engine, Chinese attackers retaliated against several Iranian sites, only to spur further attacks against random Chinese web servers. To further complicate the matters Baidu posted a message on their main page stating that the problem originated as a DNS problem from the US. If I were the paranoid type I might theorize that the bigger picture has some sort of third party trying to sow discontent among the nations. Then again that's IF I were the paranoid type.
-The Dawson
Sources: NPR Public Radio
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jan/12/iranian-hackers-chinese-search-engine
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jan/12/google-china-ends-censorship
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