I can’t wait for our overlords to decree that online media sites, like iBankCoin, need to offer ‘fair and balanced’ slants on news topics, imposing government employees onto my board in order to fetter out all of my subversive activities. You know, providing the good people of this fat land with information and opinion that isn’t concocted by a person with an acute mental illness.
The red fucking state of China is going to do exactly that. But don’t worry. China is our friend.
China is considering taking board seats and stakes of at least 1 percent in operators of some Internet portals and mobile apps in exchange for granting news licenses, according to people familiar with the plan.
The government would issue the licenses in exchange for stock and a board seat, according to the people, who asked to not be identified because the details haven’t been made public. Government representatives could monitor and block content distributed by Internet providers, although they wouldn’t be involved in other day-to-day business decisions, according to the people.
The proposal would give authorities the ability to block news from reaching the Web and coincides with a broad government clampdown on information distributed online. The move could affect operators of major Internet portals such as Tencent Holdings Ltd. and NetEase Inc. along with mobile apps that provide current affairs and news on a daily basis.
See, this is very kind of them, permitting people to post shit online, so that other people can read it. They’re going to grant them licenses, in exchange for a piece of the action. The Italian mafia calls that extortion. I suppose, in China, it’s called the cost of doing business.
Free Hong Kong.
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I tried to login earlier, but for some reason I coudln’t comment on this one article…
Anyway, China will find out that controllign information in the Internet age is like herding cats.
China already hides a lot of stuff from its people on the Internet. E.g. The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 seem not to have ever happened, as far as anyone can tell who is trying to research them from within China.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989
“The Communist Party of China (CPC) forbids discussion of the Tiananmen Square protests,[213] and has taken measures to block or censor related information. Textbooks have little, if any, information related to the protests.[214] Following the protests, officials banned controversial films and books, and shut down a large number of newspapers. Within a year, 12 percent of all newspapers, 8 percent of publishing companies, 13 percent of social science periodicals and more than 150 films were banned or shut down. In addition, the government also announced it had seized 32 million contraband books and 2.4 million video and audio cassettes.[215] Access to media and internet resources on the subject are restricted or blocked by censors.[216] Banned literature and films include Summer Palace,[217] Forbidden City, Collection of June Fourth Poems,[218] The Critical Moment: Li Peng diaries, and any writings of Zhao Ziyang or his aide Bao Tong, including Zhao’s memoirs. However, contraband and internet copies of these publications can be found.[219]
“The party’s official stance towards the incident is that the use of force was necessary in order to control a ‘political disturbance'[220] and that it ensured the stability necessary for economic prosperity.[221] Chinese leaders, including former presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, reiterate this line when asked about the question by foreign press.[222]”
Sounds like they’re trying to go even further now.