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Image after the riot  (Source: Xinhua)
The Chinese government is cracking down on the Internet and Twitter

The Chinese government has cut off internet service and blocked access to Twitter in a region of the country, after deadly riots left 140 people dead in a remote northwest region of the country.

Chinese media reports indicate 140 people have been killed in the Xinjiang Urumqi Autonomous region, and a total of around 800 people -- with that number still climbing -- have been injured.  Chinese search engines no longer yield any search results when Chinese internet users search for "Urumqi."

Residents of the city say internet has been completely cut off in Urumqi, and they have not been told when it will be restored.

Now that the protests reportedly have spread outside of Urumqi, it's possible others will face internet crackdowns later this week.  

In addition to internet restrictions and a crackdown on Twitter, YouTube also has been temporarily blocked by the government, which is attempting to create a certain level of damage control.  The internet will reportedly remain off to help stifle the spread of the riots, but official word from the Chinese government isn't expected to discuss the recent internet shutoff.

The Chinese government is well known for cracking down on internet users after similar events, and also closely controls what kind of content can be seen by internet users.  The government has drawn criticism from some PC manufacturers and security experts over its Green Dam filtering software that must be installed on all PCs and laptops sold in the country.

Despite the power of the Great Firewall of China, many internet users are able to find ways around the firewall so they are able to still read any content they like.  These freedoms, including the use of social networking sites and YouTube, is the reason the Chinese government also is cracking down on Twitter and YouTube.

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Denial of access to save lives?
By polaris2k4 on 7/6/2009 11:35:49 AM , Rating: 2
Are they are doing this to slow the spread of the riots? Does the restriction of internet access have the potential to save lives here? And if it can save lives by slowing the riot, I'm not so sure if that can justify the restriction of information. Or maybe those restrictions are whats contributing to the civil unrest in the first place. So wheres the gray area here?




RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By The0ne on 7/6/2009 11:43:19 AM , Rating: 5
It's more like cut off internet so we can do whatever we can to kill these rioters.


RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By encryptkeeper on 7/6/2009 2:33:57 PM , Rating: 2
Would it be possible to use a proxy server to circumvent the Great Firewall?


By Lord 666 on 7/6/2009 3:14:30 PM , Rating: 2
It would be even easier for the CIA (or groups "trained" by them) to set up free access points that have satellite Internet access.

We would be foolish not to think something similar was setup in Iran before the elections.


RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By eion on 7/7/2009 6:56:43 AM , Rating: 2
Yes, proxy servers work fine, although a fair number of the free web-based proxies are themselves blocked.


RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By Iaiken on 7/6/2009 11:43:40 AM , Rating: 5
Are the rioters in the right here?

140 dead and 800 wounded is a stifling number for a riot and reeks of heavy handed government participation. This wouldn't be the first time that the Chinese government has responded to civil disobedience with good old-fashioned violence.


RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By neothe0ne on 7/6/2009 11:48:46 AM , Rating: 5
This DailyTech article is just horrible. It lacks sources, who has reported that riots have spread outside of the region?

According to the BBC and/or AP, 100 Uighurs gathered, turned into thousands, and were armed with knives, bricks, etc., and were smashing cars and stores, setting fire, etc. After which, the police and military responded.

But of course, take all news of riots in China with a grain of salt.


RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By Chernobyl68 on 7/6/2009 11:51:33 AM , Rating: 5
anybody know WTF they're rioting about?


By Tsuwamono on 7/6/2009 12:03:15 PM , Rating: 4
They won a hockey game?

wait.. that's just Montreal..


RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By zsunjian on 7/6/2009 12:09:50 PM , Rating: 3
I'm not sure; and we may never find out since we can't trust what the Chinese gov't says, and reliable sources are hard to get with all the media controls. But that region has always been a place of unrest, often with racial issues. I heard a number of days ago that there were clashes between the Han and the indigenous people there. This could be an escalation of this event.


RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By chick0n on 7/6/09, Rating: -1
RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By aj28 on 7/6/2009 6:29:52 PM , Rating: 3
Oh hardly... Go watch Fox and tell me they're biased in the same direction as NBC. Unlike China, we're not dealing with government-controlled media that skews the very basic nature of events on a daily basis.

quote:
so yeah, just stfu about media controls, US doing the exact same shit everyday.


Judging by both your stance and your grammar, I'm going to call bias.


By yomamafor1 on 7/6/2009 12:23:31 PM , Rating: 5
They're probably protesting about how the government treat them. Citizens in both Xinjiang and Tibet are often treated by their government as 3rd class citizens. I fear that eventually Xinjiang will become another Tibet.


By The0ne on 7/6/2009 12:40:03 PM , Rating: 4
Google "Urumqi" because this piece of article here sucks horribly. Almost a complete waste of time reading it to be honest. It's like "oh no the internet is down I'll have to report it," and screw the rest of the events happening around.

Someone also explained it below btw.


RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By amanojaku on 7/6/2009 11:55:50 AM , Rating: 5
There is no gray area. Here's a 10-step plan on how you "keep the peace":

1) Cut off information to and from the outside world
2) Kill a few dozen random citizens just so people know you're serious
3) Threaten the rest
4) Kill those who resist
5) Thank those who give up in fear and declare them loyal
6) Use the loyalist puppets as mouthpieces for government support
7) Declare to the world that all of the "dangerous insurgents" are under control
8) Make lots of noise about how the government was worried about public safety
9) Deny any proactive violence and downplay reactive violence
10) Wash, rinse, repeat


RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By Hieyeck on 7/6/09, Rating: -1
RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By bhieb on 7/6/2009 12:37:29 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
Not that I approve of what they're doing, but I'm not going out knowing full well that the government will whack my ass without hesitation

Thank goodness our founding father's did not exhibit such
cowerdess ... uhh I mean self preservation.


RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By oTAL (blog) on 7/6/2009 12:51:02 PM , Rating: 3
And the cowards are the most silent.

Anyone that knows me would tell you I'm way above average when it comes to intelligence... and yet I'd be willing to risk my life in an organized effort to topple an oppressive and corrupt government.


RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By Ammohunt on 7/6/2009 2:11:14 PM , Rating: 1
Then why did you vote in a an "oppressive and corrupt government" by voting for Obama?


RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By aj28 on 7/6/2009 6:54:25 PM , Rating: 3
Opinionated, irrelevant, and as of November 4th, over.


RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By chick0n on 7/6/09, Rating: -1
RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By aj28 on 7/6/2009 6:34:14 PM , Rating: 4
quote:
So just cut ur crap, and welcome to the real world.


The fact that corruption exists in the US doesn't make it any more tolerable in China. That's very poor logic on your part...


RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By oTAL (blog) on 7/7/2009 6:14:21 AM , Rating: 2
@ Ammohunt and chick0n:

quote:
why did you vote in a an "oppressive and corrupt government" by voting for Obama


I don't know how that is relevant at all but for your sake I'll add that I'm not even American. I'm an European (Portuguese) and we have democracy over here as well...

quote:
your beloved US government

quote:
So just cut ur crap, and welcome to the real world.


Here's my assumptions form your post:
You're American and you've probably never been outside the US. The article isn't about the US and there is a world beyond the US borders.

After YOU get to know the real world, then you're welcome to share your thoughts.
My recommendations for good and educative vacations (not sarcasm):
Brazil (jungle, city and the northeastern coast);
Peru;
Guinea-Bissau;
Cuba (get to know the country and not the beaches);
Japan;
Morocco or Jordan;
France or England.

If I might add a few I have never visited but I'm pretty sure would be worth it:
Indonesia;
China;
India;
South Africa;
Hungary;
Russia.


By Ammohunt on 7/8/2009 5:58:56 PM , Rating: 2
I have been to many places around the world; Europe most extensively and nowhere have I found a more insulated and small minded population then there. Hell the Kuwaitis know more about freedom then anyone I have come across in Europe(including family members). The EU is not the center of the world any more and hasn't been for last 200 or so odd years. Get used to it.


RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By HrilL on 7/6/2009 1:12:50 PM , Rating: 4
You're completely off base.

Dumb people are not loud. They can't even talk. Now if you're talking about ignorant/stupid/retarded people you're still wrong.

Those who stand up for what they believe to be right tend to be the more educated people. That is why protest tend to be lead by people with higher education Professors/Doctors/Lawyers.

I tend to be smarter and have more knowledge then the average person and I would stand up for my rights and I'd be welling to die in order for other to be able to have them.


RE: Denial of access to save lives?
By Ammohunt on 7/6/09, Rating: 0
By Iaiken on 7/6/2009 4:43:07 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah, just look at Mogadishu: where anything that can be accomplished by violence, has been.


By EricMartello on 7/7/2009 1:41:09 PM , Rating: 2
Nobody wants to be in the receiving end of violence, but if you are the one dishing it out you can be ASSURED that you will get attention and get noticed. I don't think that violence alone can solve a problem, but it will at least get an agenda on the table in front of a captive audience.

Here's a simple example. Pretend that both of these scenarios happened to you:

- Get off my lawn!

vs

- [punch in the face] Get off my lawn!

You will remember one of them a lot more clearly and in more detail than the other. :)


What about Iran?
By elgueroloco on 7/6/2009 12:14:31 PM , Rating: 2
I wonder if everyone will forget about Iran now and focus on China. That would suck for the Iranians, but you know how human attention spans work.




RE: What about Iran?
By yomamafor1 on 7/6/2009 12:27:32 PM , Rating: 3
If that's the case, Kim Jong Il would be absolutely pissed. He just spent the entire North Korea's GDP in launching several short range ballistic missiles, in hopes that people will focus on his demand.


RE: What about Iran?
By Tsuwamono on 7/6/2009 12:37:24 PM , Rating: 2
but isn't he always pissed? Or maybe he just looks pissed all the time.


RE: What about Iran?
By bhieb on 7/6/2009 12:39:02 PM , Rating: 2
No it's constipation, too much dog will do that to you.


RE: What about Iran?
By Tsuwamono on 7/6/2009 12:59:32 PM , Rating: 1
I think Kim rated you down lol


RE: What about Iran?
By Spuke on 7/6/2009 12:45:21 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
but isn't he always pissed? Or maybe he just looks pissed all the time.
It must be the shoes.


RE: What about Iran?
By Omega215D on 7/6/2009 2:26:00 PM , Rating: 2
Come down to Krazy Kim's Summer Blowout!!! All dissidents must go by cutting them half off!


RE: What about Iran?
By HrilL on 7/6/2009 1:20:34 PM , Rating: 3
China took what they learned from what happened in Iran and improved on the censoring and closed the small gaps Iran left open.

No one can honestly believe any news that comes from Xinhua because they only report fabricated news from the Chinese government.

The western world should make laws that don't allow our companies to do business with china unless they have a clean human rights record. Economic pressure is the only thing that will force them into treating people right. But this will never happen because our governments don't have the balls to stand up for humanity.


RE: What about Iran?
By Sazabi19 on 7/6/2009 2:46:16 PM , Rating: 4
dude, we are in debt to China out our yang (not theirs). Besides, China is one of our biggest customers for trading goods, if we were to cut them off we could very well be cutting our own throat. That is why we have other people to make our decisions not some rights activist groups. We may not like it but we can't afford it.


RE: What about Iran?
By Spuke on 7/6/2009 2:58:20 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
dude, we are in debt to China out our yang (not theirs)
They are currently the largest foreign holder of US debt but they are NOT the largest holder of US debt. That would the US citizens.


RE: What about Iran?
By TSS on 7/6/2009 9:01:27 PM , Rating: 3
quite the logic there. making sure you don't cut your throat by giving the knife to the chinese. which violate human rights. you really trust them with holding it steady?

this is not from a human rights point of view. far from it, this is pure tactics. you really think the chinese will not try to become the dominant global super power? what are you going to defend your nation with when you can't afford the army?

heh, because i'm myself not an american i might get rated down for saying this, but i do belive your founding fathers would much rather cut their own throat then have some foreign country bleed them dry. didn't they actually risk their throats in such a situation?

here's an idea for getting rid of your debt to china! i propse a new tax! first on stamps, then on sugar, and if that isn't enough, which it wont, on tea. to be paid directly to the chinese government without a say in their operations. sound familiar? well it shouldn't, because this time, you will actually *owe* it to them.


You guys got the wrong idea and picture.
By vtohthree on 7/6/2009 1:47:41 PM , Rating: 2

According to reports this is not your typical "Chinese government oppresses citizens for having a peaceful protest".

Many may or may not know, but China has a number of non-mongoloid descendants living there. This riot was basically a bunch of Muslim Urumqi having a rather violent protest in the area, flipping cars, throwing bricks, etc. Over in Xinjiang there is a lot of tension between the Muslims and the majority people there. Hence this "violent riot".

source(look it up yourself, instead of assuming and imagining what happened):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8135203.st...




By bighairycamel on 7/6/2009 4:29:16 PM , Rating: 2
OK so you addressed the riots which the article clearly describes as deadly and violent. I haven't read through all the comments yet, but I don't think many people will disagree that the riots themselves were far from "peaceful" and the rioters deserve to be punished.

But regardless, this shouldn't justify even more human rights restrictions. Citizens should have a right to know what's happening around them, violent or not.


RE: You guys got the wrong idea and picture.
By Iaiken on 7/6/2009 5:08:50 PM , Rating: 3
The Xinjiang region has been in turmoil off and on for the last 300 years with rebellions, uprisings and civil wars. Most of this is tied to the Muslim population’s desire for freedom of religion in spite of it being contrary to contemporary communist thinking. Like all of their remote and ethnically diverse regions, the Chinese solution to the problem of cultural diversity was to simply drown them under a sea of immigrant Han Chinese. Since the PLA invasion in 1953, the Chinese government engaged in massive settlement efforts that saw the number of Han Chinese rise from less than half a million to over 7.8 million (based on 2007 census data).

Most of these immigrants reside in the metropolitan areas where they make up over 75% of all city inhabitants while rural populations are predominantly Uyghurs and Kazakhs. This, combined with business and government engaging in blatant segregation against non-Hans has sparked violence ever since as indigenous peoples seek equality.

Somehow, I doubt they will ever acquire said equality while the government is content with labeling them "terrorists" and "religious extremists".

The BBC article doesn't mention any of the above regional history and ultimately fails to describe the proper scope in which the events transpired... this is far from over.


By neothe0ne on 7/6/2009 7:06:07 PM , Rating: 2
To be fair, the US and UN have also labeled them as terrorists. The ethnic tensions have existed since before the PRC, but I thought that should have been self-explanatory given that ethnic minorities don't randomly sprout from the ground.


By Baov on 7/6/2009 9:51:45 PM , Rating: 2
No, any chinese government would have done the same thing. This is simply an ethnic cleansing by han people. Anyone from a country neighboring china can tell you that. Me being from one.


Is the Internet the new rock and roll?
By siliconvideo on 7/6/2009 12:46:08 PM , Rating: 3
Is the Internet the new rock and roll? In my opinion the old Soviet Union was brought down by rock and roll, blue jeans and MacDonald’s (among other things). Back in the 70's the Soviet youth were clamoring for these western cultural items. This clamoring eventually forced the Soviet government to open up more to western society and values (good or bad).

Now it appears the Chinese are clamoring for information flow using such services as Twitter, Youtube and web sites. They always appear to get around the fire walls to get to the information and the government just cracks down harder.

They real question is which is more powerful, the flow of information or the attempts to stop that flow. If the flow continues, then the government will loose the iron fist control of the populace. The government might just have to change or collapse like the Soviet Union did in the 70’s.

If the flow stops then the government will continue with its iron fist rule and societal growth both technologically and socially will slow down to a crawl. The Chinese government is in a hard place, stop the flow and maintain control or let the flow go and possibly loose control.

I know there’s a lot of other variables to look at and this is just looking at the situation form one direction.

There’s the old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times”




By MrJim on 7/6/2009 1:07:06 PM , Rating: 2
The old Soviet Union was brought down by the US military budget and that they had messed up their agriculture, no food for its own citizens.


By Morphine06 on 7/6/2009 1:08:52 PM , Rating: 2
Wade Gustafson: He just ate - he didn't finish! He's goin' to MAC-Donalds instead of finishin' here.
Jean Lundegaard: He sees his friends there. It's okay.
Wade Gustafson: It's okay, MAC-Donalds. Heh. Whaddya think they do there? They don't drink milkshakes, I assure you.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116282/quotes


I Expected Better...
By AndMatt on 7/6/2009 12:01:36 PM , Rating: 2
Come on China. What happened to the good old days? The days when thousands of Chinese would be slaughtered or starved to death by their own government. When did China become to lax in its enforcement? What kind of totalitarian/democratic spawn of Satan are you?




RE: I Expected Better...
By Tsuwamono on 7/6/2009 12:04:27 PM , Rating: 3
Not everyone's Russian.


RE: I Expected Better...
By chick0n on 7/6/09, Rating: -1
RE: I Expected Better...
By aj28 on 7/6/2009 6:38:04 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
and there were over 600K+ civilians died because of the war. Ahh, it must be fake numbers ! no way US killing people innocent people ! It must be the bad guys in Iraq ! Why ? Cuz Fox news/CNN/NBC/BBC said so !


And I suppose all the opinionated, racist bullshit you're spewing all over this article is supposed to be entirely trustworthy? Get real.


RE: I Expected Better...
By chick0n on 7/6/09, Rating: -1
"Let's face it, we're not changing the world. We're building a product that helps people buy more crap - and watch porn." -- Seagate CEO Bill Watkins











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