Chinese control of domain names
Summary: Rumor has it that China has recently moved to create its own root domain servers, which just so happens to be a useful way to control where Chinese citizens go when they enter a URL.
It is rumored that China has recently created its own top-level domain root servers for .cn, .com and .net extensions, ostensibly in order to avoid having to "surf the Web via the servers under the management of ICANN of the U.S." I somehow doubt that is the real reason. China is not known for its respect for a free press, and it occurs to me that "American control" is a useful fig leaf to hide an attempt to grab even more control over where a link takes you.
Something I've never told anyone, however, is that I have a time machine. Yes, it's true. The control panel is on the back of an old box of Cracklin' Oat Bran, and the doorway bears a striking resemblance to my closet, but exist it does, and I have seen the headlines on cnn.com a few years hence...as accessed through root servers under Chinese control.
So, here it is, reduced for your viewing pleasure to fit within the context of a ZDNet blog entry...
- Chairman Hu almost cracks a smile
- Women around the world swoon over an expression of exuberance by party leaders
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Boy was I surprised. I didn't know Jackie Chan was Canadian.
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Talkback
I was sure...
Carl Rapson
I just use that one on weekends
Time machine...
LOL!
Wasn't that device a transmogrifier also?
Carl Rapson
Yes
Indeed...
*Not responsible for duplicates creating duplicates of themselves and messing up your life.
But then...
Had to call you out John
THATS why there are PRINCIPALS - like "do no evil" . . .
Like I said...
Even when the Soviets controlled the newspapers, the citizens knew it was BS. They will overturn things when they're ready, and readiness is usually a function of wealth.
Apologist denial
The standard apoogist dogma. I don't believe the internet existed at the height of the totalitarian dictatorship of communist Russia. I am also quite sure that US corporate big hitters like Microsoft, Cisco, Yahoo and Google weren't falling over themselves in their haste to help the repressive Communuist regime better and more efficiently repress free speech and human rights, in order to make money. That is the situation now. Apologist mouthpieces for all the aforementioned companies can be found bleating excuses and justifications all over the net, for the greed driven abuses their companies are helping to force onto millions of repressed citizens, in order to make money. As a Microsoft employee your public bleatings are just an extension of that companies PR machine. The worst Microsoft could do to you, if you (ha ha) ever started talking them down, would be to sack you. Thanks to Microsoft and companies like themn, Chinese citizens face torture, hard labour and imprisonment, shopuld they start speaking out of turn. Still, as long as the cash registers are ringing and you can bleat your apologist justifications from the comfort of a free-speech enabled armchair in one of the richest countries on the planet, why would you worry?
The difference between disruptive and repressive...
It once seemed ludicrous for an agency to monitor every email on the Internet, or to intercept and decrypt massive numbers of encrypted messages, or to track every message entering and leaving an entire country. It doesn't seem ludicrous any more, simply expensive. A government the size of the Chinese government has the funds to make expensive nightmares come true.
Engagement has always been a synonym for appeasement. That doesn't change, no matter who the players are, or what the technology.