Chinese Censorship, US Espionage, and Propaganda

China, Censorship, and the NSA
The Chinese Government is no slouch when it comes to computing. China has, for example, the

State Department Forbids Access to Wikileaks

world's fastest computer, the most advanced photonic communications devices, and the most computer science Ph.D.s on earth. They have long been aware of the spying carried out by America's NSA, and of the destructive propaganda that passes for news spread by the West's corporate-controlled, government-based media designed to destroy governments like themselves, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Russia.

China could have elected to compete by spreading propaganda themselves but instead have chosen to restrict the spread of such poisonous nonsense by making access to such espionage/propaganda difficult – though not impossible, as any resident of China will attest. In retrospect, this policy seems wiser and more moderate than engaging in a pissing match against the massed forces of the West's corporate-controlled, government-based media.

Western media has, at the same time, been practicing the most blatant form of censorship by deleting information that might embarrass Western corporations or the governments which they fully control. As an example, have you read the Application for Asylum submitted by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden? It's a public document, submitted by a US citizen to one of the most respected courts of justice in the world and it's been read by hundreds of millions of people. But none of them in the West. So, as you read Mr. Snowden's request, ask yourself, "If Western media were government-controlled, would it be any different?"

Here's the missing element from the Snowden story:


"I, Edward Snowden, citizen of the United States of America, am writing to request asylum in the Republic of Ecuador because of the risk of being persecuted by the government of the United States and its agents in relation to my decision to make public serious violations on the part of the government of the United States of its Constitution, specifically of its Fourth and Fifth Amendments, and of various treaties of the United Nations that are binding on my country.

As a result of my political opinions, and my desire to exercise my freedom of speech, through which I’ve shown that the government of the United States is intercepting the majority of communications in the world, the government of the United States has publicly announced a criminal investigation against me. Also, prominent members of Congress and others in the media have accused me of being a traitor and have called for me to be jailed or executed as a result of having communicated this information to the public.

Some of the charges that have been presented against me by the Justice Department of the United States are connected to the 1917 Espionage Act, one of which includes life in prison among the possible sentences.

Ecuador granted asylum to the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, in relation to this investigation. My case is also very similar to that of the American soldier Bradley Manning, who made public government information through Wikileaks revealing war crimes, was arrested by the United States government and has been treated inhumanely during his time in prison. He was put in solitary confinement before his trial and the U.N. anti-torture representative judged that Mr. Manning was submitted to cruel and inhumane acts by the United States government.
The trial against Bradley Manning is ongoing now, and secret documents have been presented to the court and secret witnesses have testified.

I believe that, given these circumstances, it is unlikely that I would receive a fair trial or proper treatment prior to that trial, and face the possibility of life in prison or even death".

Here are a few more (of thousands) of examples of censorship in the West. While you're looking at them, remember that 80% of Chinese trust their media. 40% of Americans trust theirs:

US National Archives Has Blocked Searches for ‘WikiLeaks’

Screen shot of blocked US National Archives search

Searches for “WikiLeaks” in the public search engine for the US National Archives have been blocked, according to a posting at Cryptome.org. Any search containing the word “WikiLeaks (like “Congress” and “WikiLeaks”) turns up an error message.

WikiLeaks reacted on Twitter, “The US National Archives has literally turned into Orwell’s Ministry of Truth.” In another more vivid message, “The US state is literally eating its own brain by censoring its own collective memories about WikiLeaks.” And, in another message, “The US National Archives censoring searches for its records containing the word ‘WikiLeaks’ is absolutely absurd.”

"The announcement first came from EUTELSAT, a French-based company that runs satellites which broadcast news over Europe as well as the Middle East, Africa, India and parts of Asia and the Americas. Without warning, the company informed Iran’s Press TV, the English-language 24-hour news channel, that it
was not allowed to beam its TV shows to Europe. I should add that I once anchored for the channel and now make an independent production for them. (I’ll get to the ban being a precursor for media-management of another terrible war, later.)

Press TV rang a spokesperson at EUTELSAT who explained it wasn’t their fault: they said they had been told to ban the channel by the European Commission. And Press TV, wasn’t the only one – the continent that cradled the Enlightenment also thought eight more television channels were too dangerous for Descartes, Locke, and Voltaire to watch." http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/11/05/when-censorship-goes-system-wide/ And...

Thirty-three percent of Britons were confident about the quality and integrity of their media  in the winter of 2011-2012, marking the first measurable decline in years.

Read more at GALLUP.com. And...60% of Americans have "no trust at all" in their media. For more on censorship world wide, see Censorship America And for more about censorship in China, from a very experienced journalist, see this :  And still more on censorship in the USA, where we find precisely the same kinds of crimes  are censored And this beauty:  Google: If You Use Google Search, The FBI Are Watching You And this:

(Reuters) - Iran's English-language Press TV channel has been dropped from the satellite platform that allowed it to broadcast in the United States and Canada, the channel said. The state-owned, 24-hour network broadcasts world news and pro-government views beyond Iran's borders. Press TV had broadcast in North America on the Galaxy 19 satellite platform. The channel did not say when it was dropped. Read more..

US Military Preserves Network Hygiene

The US military has blocked access to the Guardian news website, but it wasn't done to censor free speech, but just "to preserve 'network hygiene'".  :)

 

Military admits to filtering reports and content relating to government surveillance programs for thousands of personnel

 

The Pentagon insisted the Department of Defense was not seeking to block the whole website, merely taking steps to restrict access to certain content.

 

"The Department of Defense routinely takes preventative 'network hygiene' measures to mitigate unauthorized disclosures of classified information onto DoD unclassified networks."

And more here