the Art of Information Wars
It was just a week ago that WFMU's Kenny G sung Sun Tzu's Art of War in
its entirety over the air, and over repeated iterations of Ravel's Bolero
Intelligent Design with Kenny G playlist | 02.15.06.
This is not the sax playing Kenny G. but rather a dj G. known mostly
for frightening small children (his own). The performance stirred recollections
(I had actually read the Art of War at some point) and reminded me that Sun Tzu
can be used to illuminate many situations. For example (from Sun Tzu):
"XII. THE ATTACK BY FIRE 15. Unhappy is the fate of one who tries to
win his battles and succeed in his attacks without cultivating the
spirit of enterprise; for the result is waste of time and general
stagnation."
In the wake of reports that major US Internet corporations including
Google, Yahoo
Yahoo 'helped China to jail dissident', Microsoft, (but apparently not Cisco) have been
cooperating with the Chinese authorities in return for access and
business opportunities
Internet firms accused of 'evil' pact with China to hand over dissidents. The House International Relations Committee's
subcommittee on Africa, global human rights and international
operations held hearings on Tues. 14 Feb 2006. A sample of the rhetoric "Claiming that [Internet firms'] dealings
with China will make China a more liberal society and more democratic
is just playing games" with public perception, says Dana Rohrabacher
(R) of California
GOP rift over US firms in China | csmonitor.com. "Your abhorrent activities in China are a disgrace,"
Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) said. "I simply do not understand how your
corporate leadership sleeps at night." Rep. Christopher H. Smith
(R-N.J.)...said the companies' actions in China are a "sickening
collaboration."
Internet Firms Address China Practices The majority of the consternation on this issue seems
to be coming from the republican side of the aisle
GOP rift over US firms in China | csmonitor.com. Primarily because
they are viewed and view themselves as placing great stock in the
politics of engagement. Though this has not always been true nor is it
the case universally now. There is no engagement with Castro's Cuba. One issue is what laws or
expectation should American companies whose services extend into other
countries follow. Some of these companies in their testimony seemed to
be asking for guidance
Congress's dilemma: When Yahoo in China's not Yahoo: Do we follow our laws or theirs, one law or
two? What is clear is that there have been instances where American
companies have been prompted to drop dimes on dissidents. It is
necessary to pay particular attention to what is done. Shutting down
someone's web log because the the authorities deemed them a gadfly they
wished to swat down, is one thing. If you are running a web log you're not
truly incognito though perhaps operating under a nom de guerre, and if
people are being displeased they will try to kick your soapbox out from
under you. Providing information to police on a dissident who was being
more critical of the state and trying to remain anonymous for that,
resulting in that persons arrest and imprisonment is another. I do not like seeing
American companies trying to justify that. I don't want to use the
products of these companies. I look to the market to provide
alternatives to those who accommodate creeping totalitarianism. Many of the articles I read in the press seem to be trading
broadsides at the views of each other: censorship in China
In Rare Briefing, Chinese Official Defends Internet Controls
is
succeeding, Censorship is losing
China's web censors are losing the battle, (pirates)
Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | Pirates and bloggers beat China's great wall of propaganda and Bloggers
Let a thousand blogs bloomare winning.
Chinese leaders defend regulation regimes
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | China defends internet regulation, former party leaders
criticize regulation
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Party elders attack China censors. China doesn't arrest web dissidents, Activists
doubt this
The Globe and Mail: Activists reject China's denial of Internet censorship. The Eviscerating of Freezing Points top editor is exemplar
of the censorship
Chinese Journal Closed by Censors Is to Reopen - New York Times, The reopening of Freezing Point is a victory for the
people. The London Times, BBC, CS Monitor all ran multiple stories on
this over the last few weeks. Most placing the drama at the weekly
supplement Freezing Point at or near the center. The Washington Post
weighed in with a formal series
About This Series. I note that while all the Posts
stories by Philip Pan while getting page one play they were categorized as
technology stories not Political. The series consisted of 3 or so articles starting last Sunday: Mass replication of Letter from Freezing Points
editor
The Click That Broke a Government's Grip, Wikipedia China
Reference Tool On Web Finds Fans, Censors , Web log Wars
Bloggers Who Pursue Change Confront Fear And Mistrust , & Tools
Free Software Takes Users Around Filters.
The CS Monitor in their own fashion wrote one of the more succinct
articles putting things in good perspective
China's media censorship rattling world image | csmonitor.com. They identified department
of propaganda (now department of Publicity) I imagine still within the
Ministry of 'Truth', as the active player in the recent bouts of
information suppression. And they note how all this will tie in to the
upcoming review of human rights in China by the US State Department.
This annual rite is the hole in the board into which the screw of
engagement turns. If that last metaphor seems strained I just want to
say; one more "great 'firewall' of China" joke
Breaching China's great firewall | csmonitor.com and I'm going to start a
cultural revolution of my own. Besides, whenever I am reminded of the
great wall of China, I usually end up thinking of a Franz Kafka story
The Great Wall of China, particularly the coda News of the building of
the Wall: A Fragment.
Sometimes on the bus ride home I talk to someone (hm. s.) who is a journalism
graduate student from China. she says she has a MSN blog, If she every
tells me what its name I will link it here. I recall she said before
entering the program at Maryland she worked for a magazine back in
China. She's not the only person from China in the journalism program at Maryland
either. Discounting my skepticism about the state of American
journalism. I would have to say there is something here that looks, to
me, like optimism.
11:48:35 PM  ;;
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