Wikipedia’s Jimbo Wales Takes A Stand Against Chinese Censporship
[see: Social Synergy Odd Wiki Bliki: InternetCensorship]
The Observer reports that Wikipedia:Jimmy_Wales has challenged Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft to stand up to Chinese government censorship.
The article Wikipedia:Blocking_of_Wikipedia_in_mainland_China explains that Wikipedia was likeley blocked in China due to articles about Taiwanese independence, Falun Gong and Tiananmen Square protests (see: Wikipedia:Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989).
The Observer reports:
Wales will meet senior Chinese officials in an attempt to persuade them to allow the website’s 1.3 million articles to appear there uncensored.
(Wales stated)‘One of the points that I’m trying to push is that if there’s a small town in China that has a wonderful local tradition, that won’t make its way into Wikipedia because the people of China are not allowed to share their knowledge with the world. I think that’s an ironic side-effect and something the people in the censorship department need to have a much bigger awareness of: you’re not just preventing information about Falun Gong or whatever you’re upset about getting into China, you’re preventing the Chinese people speaking to the world.’
Related Pages
Wikipedia:Blocking_of_Wikipedia_in_mainland_China, Wikipedia:Internet_censorship_in_China, WikiNews:Chinese_ban_of_Wikimedia_enters_tenth_week, Meta:China_block
