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September 11, 2006
Three Cheers for Wikipedia
I've got some good news and some bad news on the internet free speech front. First the bad news. China continues to crack down:
Under the new measures, news that 'endanger(s) China's national security, reputation and interests' is outlawed.Information that 'disrupt(s) China's economic and social order, or undermine(s) China's social stability' is also forbidden as Xinhua is responsible for vetting the flow of news into China.
Since China is issuing annual licenses any media that doesn't toe the line can be banned pretty easy.
Now the Good news. Wikipedia has told China to take a flying leap:
The founder of Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia (sic) written by its users, has defied the Chinese government by refusing to bow to censorship of politically sensitive entries.Jimmy Wales, one of the 100 most influential people in the world according to Time magazine, challenged other internet companies, including Google, to justify their claim that they could do more good than harm by co-operating with Beijing...
He goes on in this vein:
Wales said censorship was ' antithetical to the philosophy of Wikipedia. We occupy a position in the culture that I wish Google would take up, which is that we stand for the freedom for information, and for us to compromise I think would send very much the wrong signal: that there's no one left on the planet who's willing to say "You know what? We're not going to give up."'
Wikipedia has its faults, but apparently lack of guts or honor is not among them.
Google are you taking notes?
Posted by Peter at September 11, 2006 04:20 PM