Tag Archives: revolution

Märkische Oderzeitung: Kommentarauszug zum Brockhaus

12.06.2013 | 18:38

Mrkische Oderzeitung: Kommentarauszug zum Brockhaus

Frankfurt/Oder (ots) – Es gibt natrlich schon einige Grnde, der Brockhaus-Enzyklopdie nachzutrauern. Mit keiner anderen Lexikonreihe lie sich so eindrucksvoll Belesenheit zur Schau stellen. Die Bnde waren Liebesobjekte fr Bcherfreunde, die zrtlich ber die dicken Lederrcken strichen. Mit dem Brockhaus geht nun womglich auch die Kultur des Bcherkraulens unter. Solche Befindlichkeiten spielen aber keine Rolle, wenn die konomen auf rote Zahlen starren. Das ist traurig, aber es nicht das Ende unserer Kultur. Sie hat dafr etwas viel Groartigeres erfunden. Nmlich eine Mglichkeit, das Sammeln und Konsumieren von Wissen auf eine Weise zu demokratisieren, die es noch nie gab: Wikipedia. Diese kostenlose, stndig aktualisierte, jedem zugngliche und verlagsunabhngige Online-Enzyklopdie befeuert nicht nur eine Medien-, sondern auch eine soziale Revolution. Jedenfalls solange der Strom nicht ausfllt.

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Märkische Oderzeitung: Kommentarauszug zum Brockhaus

Messaging app Line prepares to monitor its 150 million users to censor sensitive Chinese words

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Earlier this year, Tencent-owned WeChat, a mobile messaging app with more than 300 million users, came under fire for censoring ‘sensitive’ topics that its users were discussing. Now, Line, a rival app developed in Japan which has 150 million users, is the next in line to pal up to the Chinese government and restrict the use of certain phrases on its service worldwide.

A section of code within the app — spotted by Twitter user @hirakujira – shows that Line has a mechanism that will detect selected phrases. As the image below shows, there is a warning for ‘bad words’ which prompts the following Orwellian message (translated into English): ’Your message contains sensitive words, please adjust and send again.’

In addition to the code, @hirakujira gained access to Line’s service and obtained a list of 150 ‘bad words’ (in this pastebin note) that the company will monitor for.

Words on the list include references to the Tiananmen Square massacre (a phrase that previously got Foursquare blocked in China), recently ousted Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and his family wealth (which was subject to a NY Times exposé), ‘criminality in the communist party’, ‘Jasmine Revolution‘ and other terms which are routinely deleted when posted to Chinese Web services like Sina Weibo.

The censorship feature is not currently activated, but, going on the code, Line will monitor the conversations of all of its users worldwide, that’s despite it only blocking Chinese language terms. TNW carried out a range of tests and was able to receive a number of phrases from the block list without a problem — in both Chinese and the English equivalent.

Though it is not switched on yet, @hirakujira proved that the feature exists by hacking his/her iPhone to get packets from Line, which then generated the following censorship notification:

Censorship requirements of China

The discovery of the censorship feature and list of terms is a clear sign that Line is focusing on growth in China. Western Internet services like Facebook and Twitter are blocked in the country, while domestic Web companies are subject to censorship and punishment when they fail to manage their users.

Last year, Sina Weibo was made an example of when its commenting system shut down for three days after it was adjudged to have been slow in responding to coup speculation that emerged on its Twitter-like service.

What’s particularly concerning for those in China, is that Line asks users to verify their telephone number in order to install the app. The fact that it then monitors their user chat logs for sensitive words, will raise alarm given the potential repercussions should that data fall into government hands.

Line has around 45 million registered users in Japan, but it has passed 150 million registrations worldwide thanks to particularly fast growth in Southeast Asia, Spain and Latin America. The ambitious company is also targeting China and the US, and is thought to be devoting significant resources to both markets.

Focus on Chinese market

Despite WeChat’s dominance in China — all but 40 million of the service’s 300 million-plus users are on its home turf — Line launched there in December 2012. While it is the underdog in the battle, its lack of censorship was one advantage that it had over WeChat from a Chinese user’s perspective. At least until this discovery was made.

The censorship could well put pay to Line’s chances of making it big in China, and it should concern other users of the service worldwide. Although it doesn’t directly affect non-Chinese users, it is a sign that the company not only puts government interest before its users, but it also sees fit to monitor the conversations of all of its users worldwide.

It isn’t clear if the creation of this feature is a response to a request from the Chinese government, or whether Line made the change on its own. The dilemma between following legal regulation from authorities or choosing to operate from outside of China is one that many companies juggle when committing to having a business in the country.

Line could opt not to censor Chinese words, but then it runs the risk of being blocked by the government.

Twitter, Facebook and Google are among those that have refused to kowtow to censorship, but many others have relented in exchange for the chance to gain a foothold in the country’s vast and fast-growing Internet space.

Potential to impact global growth

Tencent apologized for its WeChat censorship, but referred to the issue only as “a technical glitch” that meant “a small number of WeChat international users were not able to send certain messages”.

Despite that, the issue was enough for many to suggest that it would impact WeChat’s global growth potential. Quartz went so far as to say that WeChat had “messed up its best chance of beating Facebook”.

It remains to be seen how this issue will affect Line’s ambitious goal of becoming a truly global service and widening its income base worldwide. The company recorded $58 million in revenue during Q1 2013, but a whopping 80 percent came from Japan highlighting that it is still to turn a global user base into global revenue streams.

We reached out to Line for comment more than seven hours before publishing this news. Though a representative confirmed receipt of our request, we are yet to receive a response from the company.

Headline image via Thinkstock, additional images via @hirakujira

Thanks to our anonymous tipster and Richard Lee for helping with Chinese-English translations.

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Messaging app Line prepares to monitor its 150 million users to censor sensitive Chinese words

Neue OZ: Kommentar zu Parteien / Grüne / Missbrauch

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20.05.2013 | 22:00

Neue OZ: Kommentar zu Parteien
Grne
Missbrauch

Osnabrck (ots) – Grne Kinderschnder

Dieses Thema ist nicht neu. Dutzende, wenn nicht Hunderte Texte haben in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten das ebenso schwierige wie schmierige Verhltnis von Teilen der Grnen zur Pdophilie thematisiert. Mehrfach wurde auch der Spitzenpolitiker Daniel Cohn-Bendit darauf angesprochen, gab seine zweifelhafte Vorgeschichte doch gerade grner Kritik im Zuge des Missbrauchsskandals bei den Kirchen eine eigenwillige Note.

Wenn die Partei unrhmliche Aspekte ihrer frhen Jahre erst jetzt untersuchen lsst, muss sie sich also fragen lassen, warum dies nicht frher geschah. Unglcklich wirkt auch, dass Cohn-Bendit mit dem Hinweis verteidigt werden soll, es seien halt andere Zeiten gewesen, als er sein teilweise autobiografisches Buch mit der ekelhaften Sie-wollen-es-doch-selbst-Passage verfasste. Denn ndert es etwas an den Taten und ihren Folgen, ob Kinder in den 50er-Jahren durch Mitschler, in den 60ern durch Priester, in den 70ern in links-alternativen Kommunen, in den 80ern in ihren Familien oder in den 90er-Jahren vom Sporttrainer befummelt worden sind?

Manche Grne glauben offenbar ernsthaft, dass dem so sei. Sogar beim Thema Pdophilie kleiden sie sich in den Mantel des erhabenen Moralisten und meinen, lediglich sei bei ihrem verdienstvollen Aufbegehren gegen die Spieigkeit der Nachkriegszeit im Zuge der sexuellen Revolution hier und da bers Ziel hinausgeschossen worden. Das, so der Unterton, knne im Dienst der guten Sache doch mal passieren. Wie widerlich! Und zwar damals wie heute.

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PHOENIX-Sendeplan für Montag, 20. Mai 2013; 9:00 THEMENTAG: 60 x Deutschland

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Bonn (ots) – Sendeablauf fr Montag, 20. Mai 2013