Posts tagged China at Switched

Posts with tag china

Internet Addiction Clinically Defined in China

by Tim Stevens, posted Nov 10th 2008 at 2:49PM

Internet addiction defined in China, entire Engadget staff now officially certifiable

While American psychiatrists continue to debate whether an unhealthy affinity for all things online is really a illness or just a passing fancy, their Chinese counterparts have made up their minds. After creating halfway-houses and clinics to wean netizens off of their dependency, doctors there have now created an official classification of Internet addiction for people who spend six hours or more online daily. The affliction's symptoms include poor sleep, irritability, mental distress, and (surprise, surprise) a "yearning to be online" -- a condition that we typically call "visiting the in-laws."

We're not entirely sure if this means that Chinese physicians can now subject anyone who is symptomatic to mandated shock therapy, but we've gone ahead and indefinitely postponed our 2009 Shanghai MeetUp just to be safe.

'60 Minutes' Explores America's Massive E-Waste Exports to China

by Thomas Ricker, posted Nov 10th 2008 at 2:01PM

Any self-respecting gadget hound knows that China is responsible for packing millions of shipping containers with the consumer electronics we crave. What you may not know is what we ship in return: our waste for recycling. Of growing concern is e-waste, resulting from the deluge of PCs, cellphones, televisions and crapgadgets we churn through at an accelerating clip each year.

While domestic recycling programs are good-intentioned, often the most toxic of our e-waste is shipped illegally back to China and boiled down for its precious metals under some of the most crude conditions you can imagine. When faced with the choice of familial poverty or the slow accumulation of poison in their bloodstream (for $8 per day), it's not hard to imagine what many rural Chinese people will choose.

So while we give Greenpeace's self-congratulatory promotions and oft-subjective "Guide to Greener Electronics" company ratings the occasional hard time, its attempts to raise e-waste awareness are commendable. Now go ahead, check the video from 60 Minutes's intrepid reporters after the break and let the guilt wash over you (especially after you see how some particularly angry e-waste workers try to jump the CBS news crew).

Update: As noted by reader Jason, a more thorough (and disturbing) exploration of these e-waste dumps can be found in a Current TV video shot last year in the same region. [From: CBS News]

How to Recycle Your Gadgets

Continue reading '60 Minutes' Explores America's Massive E-Waste Exports to China

China Caught Snooping and Censoring Skype Messages

by Tim Stevens, posted Oct 2nd 2008 at 12:14PM

By now, you've surely heard of China's so-called Great Firewall, the country's continued efforts to restrict access to material that the government deems questionable. We've also covered how Skype is becoming a bit of a haven for those with questionable intents because of the difficulty of monitoring conversations there. China, however, has found a way to track at least some traffic, filtering and censoring text messages sent via Skype.

A service in China called Tom-Skype enables users to exchange text messages directly with Skype users from their phones. Privacy rights advocates at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto have discovered that eight Chinese servers intersect every message and process it against a list of censored words and topics, relating to things like the banned religious group Falun Gong and even references to the current controversy relating to tainted milk powder. Messages that match are often blocked and archived, along with the identity of the individual sending them.

Those servers were apparently not adequately protected, enabling the Citizen Lab members to access them and download millions of messages, as well as information about the senders. Scary? Yes, very much so, as it reveals more signs that Big Brother is most certainly watching in China. [From: The New York Times]

Millions of Chinese Kids Addicted to Internet Games

by Peter Mychalcewycz, posted Sep 1st 2008 at 3:01PM

According to Chinese state media, close to four million Chinese youth are addicted to "unhealthy " Internet games. The Chinese government also think political descent and free speech is "unhealthy," but we digress.
Li Jianguo, a vice chairman of the standing committee of the National People's Congress, was quoted by the Beijing Times as saying "Internet-addicted teenagers" make up approximately 10 percent of China's Web users under the age of 18.

To combat this moral corruption, the committee is calling for tighter monitoring of games consisting of objectionable content. That could literally mean anything they don't like, but restrictions will most likely concentrate on pornographic and/or violent games. Another pet peeve is games depicting Chinese authorities or military personnel as antagonists. Surprise, surprise.

The big push is for automatic time restrictions on Internet games. That's nothing though. In 2006, Internet game manufacturers in China were forced to demand that players reveal their real name and ID number when logging on.

Play on kids. Play on. [From: Yahoo!]

China Lifts iTunes Block, Except for Tibet Album

by Evan Shamoon, posted Aug 26th 2008 at 3:30PM

Seems that the Chinese government woke up on the bright side of the hard, stone floor this morning! The iTunes music store is apparently back up and running again in the country, after it was blocked last week by local officials.

Not all is ice cream and puppy dogs, however. While 50 Cent and Bon Jovi downloads are back and in full effect, "Songs for Tibet" -- an album released by the Art of Peace Foundation, an organization that supports Tibetan independence, and which features songs by Sting, Dave Matthews and Alanis Morissette, along with a 15-minute speech by the Dalai Lama -- remains blacklisted. It was the pro-Tibet album that was initially suspected of starting the shutdown in the first place.

Michael Wohl, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Art of Peace, said that 40 American Olympic athletes in Beijing had downloaded the album as a symbol of protest against the government; they decided to remain anonymous, however, because of fear of retribution on China's part.

A spokesman at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., was unavailable for comment about the situation. As well as being inaccessible on iTunes, the album cannot be reached from China on either Amazon.com or YouTube, which is, as they like to say in the trade, "no coincidence". [From: SF Gate]

China Blocks Apple's iTunes

by Tim Stevens, posted Aug 25th 2008 at 11:18AM

The Olympics are over, which means all the discussion and controversy over China's filtering of the Internet are over too, right? Well, not quite. It's been discovered that China and its "great firewall" have decided to block access to the entirety of Apple's iTunes, likely over an album dedicated to freeing Tibet.

The album is a benefit for the Art of Peace Foundation, a non-profit founded by the Dalai Lama that contrasts against the classic Chinese text 'The Art of War.' It contains tracks by Dave Matthews, Regina Spektor, Suzanne Vega, Sting, and Alanis Morissette, and it's apparently become quite a favorite of many Olympians during the games. Executive director of the Art of Peace Foundation, Michael Wohl, said, "We issued a release saying that over 40 (Olympic) athletes downloaded the album in an act of solidarity, and that's what triggered it. Then everything got blocked."

Bummer for Chinese iPod owners, but given that Apple doesn't even officially support the country, we're guessing execs at Cupertino aren't too jilted. [Source: ZDNet Government]

Twitter User Deported for Online Olympic Protest

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Aug 18th 2008 at 11:02AM

The Chinese government has booted NYC resident Noel Hidalgo from the country after he took part in a protest of China's occupation of Tibet in Tiananmen Square. While Hidalgo is far from being the only person to be deported in response to protests during the Olympics, he is the only person who has covered his arrest and deportation live on Twitter and via the video streaming service Qik (the service lets you stream video from your phone to the Internet).

The cell phone video documenting the protest and arrest has become something of an Internet phenomenon, and it has received over 50,000 views so far. Of course, China probably shot itself in the foot here. Hidalgo, known as 'noneck' on Twitter and Qik, wouldn't have drawn nearly as much attention if the story hadn't ended in deportation. [Source: ValleyWag]

Olympic 'Bird's Nest' Stadium Now an MP3-Player, Too

by Ryan Block, posted Aug 11th 2008 at 3:34PM

Like so many other devices made in China, we're convinced this Bird's Nest Stadium, um, "inspired" device is totally, completely authorized and legit. And hey, unlike Chinese bird's nest soup, it not only comes in capacities up to 4GB, but doesn't even appear to be assembled with avian saliva. Difficulty: 1.2, execution: 3.55.

Fake Olympics Tickets Leaving Many Spectators Stranded

by Tim Stevens, posted Aug 4th 2008 at 2:19PM

Oh, 2008 Beijing Olympics, is there anything you can't get wrong ahead of the opening ceremonies? As if the stories over censorship, pollution, and human rights violations weren't enough, now comes word from Reuters that Internet ticketing scams for this year's Olympics are at an all-time high, leaving many people who paid good money for (supposedly) good seats with nothing.

Many of the online ticket vendors have been shut down, but others, such as BeijingTicketing.com, are still up and operational, leading many to accuse the organizers of ignoring the problem. Sadly, many of these fake tickets are sold as being available for pickup at the box office, meaning many people won't find out about the scam until they get there -- possibly after flying half-way around the world. Imagine traveling to China to find out not only that you've been scammed, but that the event you wanted to see is completely sold out!

Unfortunately, this message is coming through a little too late to help many folks, but is at least another reminder to be careful when you're typing in that credit card number. According to Xinhua News Agency, the Beijing Olympics organizers are recommending that people only buy tickets through legitimate vendors, such as the official Beijing Olympics Web site at www.tickets.beijing2008.cn. [Source: Reuters and Xinhua News Agency]

Wii-Deprived Kid Kidnaps Himself, Demands Ransom From Parents

by Nilay Patel, posted Aug 4th 2008 at 8:01AM

Sure, the Nintendo Wii is great and all, but we're guessing that a kid in China who tried to extort $1,400 from his parents by "kidnapping" himself and demanding a ransom after they refused to buy him a "Nintendo computer" was probably a little too infatuated with the popular white gaming console

According to China Daily, the kid apparently hired two men to kidnap him, and was arrested after he withdrew his own $1,400 ransom from an ATM. Genius. (Almost as genius as the kid who hired a hitman to kill his parents because they wouldn't buy him a PlayStation 3 -- the 'hitman' turned out to be a cop.)

Quick tip, kids: Real tennis, bowling, golf, and boxing are almost as much fun as 'Wii Sports,' believe it or not -- and they involve just slightly less jail time. [Source: China Daily Via Wii Fanboy]

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