According to Freedom House, the Great Firewall of China continues to restrict and censor internet access for it's people and businesses.  This is the next battleground for fair trade practices.  

It’s a slippery slope when the government starts to regulate the internet… I think it would be better for private industry to come up with solutions to piracy issues rather than the government.   Judging from the xxx domain extension debacle, (Opinion: XXX domains an obvious failure) I think any well-meaning regulation will only cause more harm than good.

Once Big Brother starts to enforce rules on the internet, they will start to tax the internet which will throw a big wet blanket on any creativity and user ability.  

Our country taxes commerce, trade and the general population  to maintain our brick and mortar infrastructure so that we as a nation have the ability to conduct business and to promote physical goods and services.  Bi-products of this have produced world class freeway systems, airport/ATC infrastructure, shipping ports and a very efficient/affordable postal network.

For companies using these  tangible systems, ease of movement throughout our country to conduct business is still the best on the planet.

It is just a bit hard to justify our government getting involved in cyberspace where infrastructure is mostly maintained by private enterprise…


For those interested in protecting their rights to use the internet,  please contact your local representatives at the House of Representatives or Senate.  You can also visit this website http://fightforthefuture.org/ for more information.

I came across this site to check a website address and see if it’s blocked in China.

http://greatfirewallofchina.org/index.php

Please go to the site and see if you are being blocked by the Chinese Government…

400 million internet users in China! Surely this number will increase and therefore be an almost certain marketing segment for US and other advanced online marketers to try and tap. But do those Chinese internet users get to really experience the “world wide web” as most other “open societies” do?  According to the latest BusinessWeek article on this subject, they do not.

Having the trading clout China currently possesses, this is certainly a dilemma that will pose a problem for US companies such as Facebook and Twitter when their plans to add more members is blocked by the “Great Fire Wall of China”.

The problem I see is again a double standard… US companies are not allowed to compete for potential customers in China and other closed  markets because those governments censor internet content while they allow their own similar online companies to flourish with no competition from Western Markets.  Just because we are not exporting Rice or other durable goods to these markets doesn’t mean that a Facebook account that is content rich shouldn’t be afforded the same trade status.

A double standard that has vast implications on how a social network is created….

I hope that China’s Wall Street supported social network companies  being created with Government sponsorship, (read Communistic overtones),  behind the Great Fire Wall will not be unleashed on the rest of the world without a clear understanding of what agenda these companies have…     -jdognet