Friday, September 15, 2017

Citizen Lab Looks at Censorship in Chinese Games

As I have said often, Chinese censorship knows no bounds.  If anything, this look by The Citizen Lab shows the lengths the Chinese will go to filter what any person sees on the Internet.  [There are links to the paper and the slides used in the presentation and I recommend both].

They found lists of keywords were not centrally managed, are left intentionally vague, and enforced on the companies making or distributing the games.  Some of the keywords make sense for children - obscene language and sexual material are not hard to see as a benefit.  Some are clearly political, as the general rules show [page 14 of the slide presentation]  Since enforcement is by each game maker, keyword lists are more likely to be inconsistent and overly restrictive.

Sometimes I wish he background chatter in on-line games was censored a little more than it is - everywhere in the world.  You can, and should, report these folks to the on-line vendors running these sites. But the Chinese take this to a whole new level.    How do we report "spreading rumors, disrupting social order and stability" which the Chinese require?

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