CHINESE INTERNET CENSORSHIP

I have had an email from Matthew Cowie in China about how Chinese internet censorship is affecting him. I am pleased to say that my "For China" mirror site is working for him. He writes:

I can view your site at http://users.tpg.com.au/jonjayra/tripod.html. Rumor has it that proximity to Beijing figures into internet censorship, although I haven't been down south yet to see if it's the case. The funny thing is that all the blocked sites are left-wing, like the BBC. (Plus the unfiltered Blogger, Geocities, Tripod, etc.). NYTimes and Washington Post are accesible since the outset of the Iraq war, but before that they were blocked. The weekly China-bashing editorials from the Washington Times have always been available. (Although I guess most Chinese haven't heard of the Washington Times so it's not considered a problem.) My blog is not viewable in China, although I can post. Since it is aimed at the home audience it isn't much of a problem.

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MOBILE PHONE PARANOIA

The recent story of a Melbourne snowboarder lost and injured in the British Columbia high country who used his mobile to call his parents in Australia to organise a rescue suggests how silly and counterproductive current technophobia is. Future generations will surely giggle at it -- just as we find quaint the old "Red Flag Act" (see here and
here) that required all cars to be preceded by a man walking in front and carrying a red flag.

The myth of the 'risk' of using mobile phones at petrol stations is surely a huge non-threat. As this industry site says: "There has been no actual incident of fuel ignition at petrol stations that has been demonstrated to have been caused by mobile phone use, anywhere in the world." Such scares tend to divert attention from real risks. There is, for instance. evidence of filling-station fires related to static discharge from customers wearing synthetic fibre clothing. But there are no warnings against that.

As New Scientist wrote in an article entitled "Dial F for Fear" a few years back. "Never have so many people worried so much about so little."

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