China blocks YouTube. Will Google bend again?

By Michelle Malkin  •  March 24, 2009 01:46 PM

googtank2.jpg
Pshop credit: Discarded Lies

Breaking this afternoon, via Information Week:

The people of China no longer have access to YouTube, a company spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.

“We understand there are reports of users being unable to access YouTube within the People’s Republic of China,” the spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement. “We are looking into the matter and working to ensure that the service is restored as soon as possible.”

The spokesperson offered no explanation as to why the video-sharing site had become inaccessible, but a BBC news report indicates that Chinese authorities blocked access to YouTube because it hosted videos of Chinese soldiers beating monks and other Tibetans.

A Chinese government spokesman told the BBC that China is not afraid of the Internet, but declined to confirm whether YouTube had been blocked.

The Chinese government has been anxious to avoid a repeat of last year’s riots in Tibet, particularly on March 10, which marked the 50th anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule, which forced the Dalai Lama to flee the country.

Last year, during the March riots in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, China blocked access to YouTube.

At the time, YouTube offered the very same statement it offered this year: “We understand there are reports of users being unable to access YouTube within the People’s Republic of China. We are looking into the matter and working to ensure that the service is restored as soon as possible.”

You’ll recall back in 2006, YouTube parent company Google succumbed to China’s censorship demands in order to obtain a license for its search engine. The company “agreed to omit Web content that the country’s government finds objectionable. Google will base its censorship decisons on guidance provided by Chinese government officials…Google officials characterized the censorship concessions in China as an excruciating decision for a company that adopted ‘don’t be evil’ as a motto. But management believes it’s a worthwhile sacrifice.”

Will they sacrifice again?

Flashback:

The China-Google protest logo album

More China-Google protest logos

Posted in: Google

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Comments


  1. #657470
    On March 24th, 2009 at 1:50 pm, AlohaGuy said:

    Wow – I just slammed Google on another thread over the China issue and you post this. Great minds hehe…

  2. #657474
    On March 24th, 2009 at 1:52 pm, AlohaGuy said:

    Google will “bend over like a Chinese acrobat looking for cellulite” (thank you Dennis Miller) in order to please the Chinese government.

  3. #657478
    On March 24th, 2009 at 1:54 pm, AlohaGuy said:

    BTW – if you poke around on Chinese web sites (you do don’t you?) you will discover something called RuTube. I don’t know if it was Google provided or a copycat.

  4. #657479
    On March 24th, 2009 at 1:55 pm, Socky said:

    Google’s Corporate motto is “Don’t be evil… unless you can make lots of money in China by being evil.”

  5. #657488
    On March 24th, 2009 at 2:03 pm, lottadawg said:

    Oh Yah! Google will bend again. Verizon bent over for Andrew Cumo. CNN bent over to stay in Iraq. The Republicans bent over again for Liberals. The country bent over for Obama.
    Google made its fortune by giving good, innovative products, maximum privacy, and a commitment to maintaining a free cyberspace.
    Amazing how liberal it has become after it has power and now it just does what it needs too in order the stay in control.

  6. #657492
    On March 24th, 2009 at 2:04 pm, AlohaGuy said:

    Amazing how liberal it has become after it has power and now it just does what it needs too in order the stay in control.

    One of it’s founders is Russian.

    Just sayin’

  7. #657499
    On March 24th, 2009 at 2:08 pm, PhredE said:

    Standards are a great thing.
    There are so many of them….[sigh].

    I’ll plug Scroogle as someone else did on another thread (with credit/kudos as appropriate). They have great commentary on Google to keep users entertained as well…

    http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/scraper.htm

  8. #657502
    On March 24th, 2009 at 2:09 pm, Flyoverman said:

    China is just doing what it has to do to be “fair” since they have no conservative talk radio in their country to supress.

  9. #657511
    On March 24th, 2009 at 2:15 pm, chapoutier said:

    One of it’s founders is Russian.

    Is it this one?

  10. #657519
    On March 24th, 2009 at 2:20 pm, ajmontana said:

    They just want to keep people from googleing the real age of the gymnastic stars. lol, Cheaters!

  11. #657524
    On March 24th, 2009 at 2:22 pm, ajmontana said:

    It’s a shame, now it will be harder to find a good penis restaurant. :shock:

  12. #657532
    On March 24th, 2009 at 2:26 pm, ArizonaNeanderthal said:

    Deal with a tyrant and you play by the tyrant’s rules. The idea that a brutal, murdering tyrant will be less brutal, kill less because of trade and business dealing is more lie than mistaken.

    Just as the Swedish and Swiss business men who bought gold and precious stones from NAZI Germany knew EXACTLY where that gold and precious stones came from so do these business men who deal with China know what their actions accomplish. Nixon’s Opening to China may well have been in our strategic interest at the time-maybe not- but that it helps the cause of Liberty in China is more lie than mistaken.

    Will Google bend again? Sure, call for a bowl of water and a towel and the blood is not on their hands- let’s call it a Pilate Project. We bought a rug from China with this disclaimer:

    No Tienanmen Square survivors were harmed in making this rug–well maybe just a few.

    Good Bye America-you will be missed.


    Keep the change-I’ll keep my guns

  13. #657535
    On March 24th, 2009 at 2:27 pm, cheapseat said:

    chap, were it only that one. aj, yes finding bug restaurants and boar colon restaurants are a piece of cake, but those exotic animal penis restaurants are tricky to find.

  14. #657542
    On March 24th, 2009 at 2:30 pm, HomeoftheBrave said:

    This is how the commies win, not by bullet or bayonet, but by getting you to sell your soul (freedoms) for money. Short-term fix, long-term sentence. Google and many companies before have done the same only to fall hard. It shows how little character there is in our country in the corporate or political world. I love blogs like this one. For better or worse, like it or not, it’s the real deal. Refreshing… and free. :) Google will definitely bend over… and like it.

  15. #657604
    On March 24th, 2009 at 2:58 pm, NJ-Aviator said:

    If what you’re about to purchase says “Made in China”, put it down and look elsewhere. Avoid their products. Most are junk anyway.

  16. #657611
    On March 24th, 2009 at 3:01 pm, Wade said:

    On March 24th, 2009 at 2:58 pm, NJ-Aviator said:
    If what you’re about to purchase says “Made in China”, put it down and look elsewhere. Avoid their products. Most are junk anyway.

    You mean like the China made rubbers the US Government is going to buy so 300 jobs in Alabama will be lost?

  17. #657632
    On March 24th, 2009 at 3:08 pm, AlohaGuy said:

    Is it this one?

    No, but I think she inspired Yahoo!

  18. #657639
    On March 24th, 2009 at 3:12 pm, right_on said:

    The spokesperson offered no explanation as to why the video-sharing site had become inaccessible, but a BBC news report indicates that Chinese authorities blocked access to YouTube because it hosted videos of Chinese soldiers beating monks and other Tibetans it wanted to follow the “Obama Model” of transparency.

    …Dat’s a good little socialist. “We hab noting to hide…it is simply a glitch in da capitalist programing, that our gifted scientists will fix. It howeber, is not a priority.”

  19. #657656
    On March 24th, 2009 at 3:25 pm, RabbidSquirrel said:

    Oh Yah! Google will bend again.

    Maybe they will move their headquarters up to the Castro District in SanFran and hire Barney Frank as a consultant.

    You mean like the China made rubbers the US Government is going to buy

    Note that the Chinese prophylactics are not lubricated but still have the embedded bits of steel and glass ‘for your pleasure’.

  20. #657659
    On March 24th, 2009 at 3:25 pm, bjc said:

    *”We show you, Yankee dog; Pretty soon, we come over and eat your young; Can cook dog only so many way; Get old”
    *If you lay down with snakes, you will get bit; Everyone needs to remember this is a Communist nation and they are out to destroy us; Only problem is our government is in denial over this; That’s why they loves them some Hillary!

  21. #657730
    On March 24th, 2009 at 4:05 pm, TomB said:

    Its all just part of a plot to suppress this.

  22. #657887
    On March 24th, 2009 at 6:17 pm, madmonkphotog said:

    If China also blocks Current TV, then I’m with them.

    Left-wing hippie propoganda, it is!

  23. #657947
    On March 24th, 2009 at 7:33 pm, EdDantes said:

    I visited Google’s offices in Bejing and also had lunch with the founder of Baidu, the Chinese google rip-off.

    Met w/ the VP of Asia for Google. They talk about being uncensored, blah blah, but the reality is, if Google wants to operate in China, they have to play by the Chinese rules.

    Google doesn’t have the market share that Baidu has anyway, so they are already at a disadvantage.

    Google can make all the free, open information statements they want, but they aren’t going to let accountability stand in the way of billions of Chinese internet users.

  24. #657957
    On March 24th, 2009 at 7:48 pm, AlohaGuy said:

    if Google wants to operate in China, they have to play by the Chinese rules.

    Perhaps a Chinese language server farm in Tibet. If they cared…

  25. #657978
    On March 24th, 2009 at 8:06 pm, dpt said:

    Dang it. On some evenings in China while on business and not in the mood to go out, I watch various videos on YouTube for entertainment.

  26. #658062
    On March 24th, 2009 at 8:39 pm, jamesgreenidge said:

    Heck with China. I’m still looking for a conservative-friendly/fair alternative to Google and Yahoo.

    James Greenidge
    Queens, NY

  27. #658240
    On March 24th, 2009 at 10:07 pm, greenfairie said:

    Of course. Google protects child pornographers while it cheerfully obeys Beijing.

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