In yet another display of censorship, China has announced it will begin scanning all text messages. The messages will automatically be scanned for keywords provided by the police. Any messages flagged and found to contain the keywords will be deemed “unhealthy” and the government has ordered cell providers to cut off service to the senders.
The government claims it is doing this as part of its efforts to protect citizens from pornography. It has already shut down hundreds of sites and issued threats of punishment to Google, ordering it to remove all traces of porn from search results or face stiff consequences.
China is becoming infamous for its increasing efforts to control its citizens’ Internet access. Late last year it angered computer makers when it decreed that all computers sold in that country have special government approved filtering software installed. The software was programmed to block certain sites, and while the government claimed they were all porn sites, many were skeptical.
Really makes you glad you live in a free country, doesn’t it?
Read [NYTimes]
I think what China is doing is the answere to all the problems out in the world with porn, The whole world should join in on censoring.