Skype Filters Text Messages in China

Greetings.

It is worrying that many major firms have decided to cave in to the Chinese government’s censorship policies—but one should blame the Chinese government, not the companies, for this. The companies do not have armies and police with guns; they have little choice but to obey the dictates of authorities who do if they wish to operate in China.

I think that the attempts at Internet censorship will be short-lived, because creative individuals will find ways to circumvent them—eventually convincing both the Chinese government and the companies that obey it that censorship will simply not work, no matter how much the authorities want it to.

In the meantime, I salute any individuals who deliberately work to end this censorship by seeking ways around it.

For some interesting discussions of Chinese and other international affairs, I invite you to http://www.panasianbiz.com

@G. Stolyarov II:

Hi,

I think it's a bit too simple to excuse western companies for cooperating with China just because they can't change the rules in China. In the contrary to individuals who live in China, western companies don't have to operate in China. If they agree with the chinese government about filtering content, it is there free will and not by force of China.

I think it is definitely necessary to blame those companies for it. Even if you don't reject the logic of profit for itself you should prevail ethical considerations.