

What's not allowed on China's version of Twitter - arkitaip
http://blockedonweibo.tumblr.com/

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SkyMarshal
It's interesting how much of a disconnect there is between the Chinese
Internet and the Western one, and not because of censorship but just the
language barrier.

I have very little idea what's going on over there, just random tidbits, and
they have more people online now than the US does.

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mulation
As a weibo user, sometimes I delete message because typo, or it may hurt my
friends' feeling.

When you see other people's message got deleted, you have no way to know
whether it is deleted by the user himself or censored (at least not until just
a few weeks ago).

I am not defending Chinese gov here. But I am curious how can those
researchers figure out whom has deleted the message?

~~~
seanmcdirmid
The researchers were analyzing message blocks, where there is explicit
feedback from Weibo that your message isn't harmonious enough. Has Weibo has
resorted to hell banning messages yet; where the user thinks the message has
gone through but is silently repressed by the system from reaching many users?
That should be detectable though by using multiple accounts in the experiment.

~~~
mulation
Yes, you suggest a way that may detect blocks. According to the researcher's
website, he is using the search function of weibo to check which words are
blocked, that is smart. It seems that weibo are using program and hiring
people to do the censorship. There even are rumors saying that those
censorship department are settled in WuHan city, and has a team of more than
500 people. Anyway, his research is valuable, and it helps bringing more
sunshine to the weibo land.

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wangjiahua
I tried several words, they are not blocked. Maybe it's because the government
is loosing some of the restrictions, which seems to be true in the last few
months. Usually political sensitive contents on Renren (RENN) were blocked
within a few hours, but now they are "allowed" to be there, for now. My
favorite blocked word was "Tomorrow", which was blocked during Feb 2011 when
"Arab Spring" spread to China, so that people could't say things like "let's
go on the street tomorrow", lol, of course, it's not blocked now.

~~~
memetichazard
One of the posts down the page references "The Great Weibo Unblocking of late-
January 2012", and many of the posts show separate block statuses from
November and February.

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moreorless
Why do authors like to use headlines like "China's version of Twitter" or
"China's version of Facebook"? What is wrong with just simply calling it "What
is not allowed on Sina Weibo" or "What is not allowed on Chinese microblogs"?

~~~
tikhonj
You have to write to your audience, and if your audience is primarily American
or European, chances are they don't know what "Sina Weibo" is but do
understand what "China's version of Twitter" is.

~~~
MengYuanLong
It is possible to write an article targeted toward a particular audience while
simultaneously educating them.

For example, I think a statement like:

"The U.S. House of Representative, a governing body similar to the British
House of commons, held a vote..."

is preferable to the alternative:

"The U.S. version of the British House of Commons held a vote..."

Regardless, why not just take it out of the title and throw it in the about
section.

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allcapz
This is a list of words blocked on <http://www.weibo.com/> which has nothing
to do with Twitter.

~~~
roryokane
Weibo is a competitor to Twitter. Twitter was mentioned in the title probably
so that readers unfamiliar with Chinese websites could understand the context
of this blog.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Weibo is not a competitor to Twitter since Twitter does not work inside China
without jumping the wall. Weibo is completely protected by the Chinese
government from competition with Twitter.

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sagarun
i see the word justice is blocked on weibo. Apparently the Chinese govt
doesn't like justice!

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MobWalk
I feel like this is proof that America has sold out. I understand China's role
in the global economy and I understand why we've become dependent on them, I'm
just ashamed we let it happen in the first place.

In my eyes, the beauty of the internet is that it literally makes the sum of
all human knowledge to date available to anyone with a connection. To restrict
the internet is to restrict knowledge, and restricting knowledge/information
is one of the most dangerous things that any government or organization can
do. Once you start, where do you stop?

~~~
mhurron
The US is not the worlds police. No one but the Chinese let China do anything.
It is the height of arrogance to believe noting in the world happens unless
the US lets it happen.

~~~
MobWalk
You are calling me arrogant for something I did not say. I did not claim that
the US is the world's police. My point is that if we were as morally bound as
we claimed to be, we wouldn't deal with the Chinese in the first place. We
live in a world where corporations are the new countries. Years ago, companies
felt a loyalty to the country they were based. Now, companies do whatever is
necessary to achieve the highest possible profit margins. Do I blame them? No,
not really. If I were in their position, I don't know how I would do it.
There's definitely something to be said for trying to make as much money as
possible. Greed is what makes the world go round, whether we like it or not.
Do I think it's right? No, not really.

I just think it's a shame that companies are so willing to sell out for short-
term profit without thinking about the long-term consequences of their action.
I believe that if the US wants to sit on its' moral high horse and play world
police that we should at least hold ourselves to the standards we expect the
world to follow.

~~~
GiraffeNecktie
However, history has shown that the best way to change another country is to
engage with them on as many levels as possible.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Living in China for almost 5 years now, I am beginning to wonder if this is
actually true. China was much more open before 2008 Olympics than after, its
basically been downhill for the last 3 years. Engagement alone doesn't bring
results, there also needs to be an explicit push for progress.

~~~
wisty
<http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia/cn.htm>

Chinese internet use:

2000 - 1.7%

2005 - 7.9%

2010 - 31.6%

2012 - ~50%

2015 - ~90%?

That's ... significant. Assuming that mass dissent is not an option, they need
to censor more vigorously.

