Month: January 2012

  • The private sector battle over SOPA (me in Al Jazeera)

    Following yesterday’s demonstrations against U.S. Congressional legislation that could severely constrict free speech and online innovation, I argue in Al Jazeera English that private interests in internet policy are here to stay. It would have been the most expensive political ad buy in the history of the world. Google’s search engine, the most visited website in the…

  • Han Han's anti-censorship tactic: publish padding before the point

    Han Han, the influential writer, race-car driver, and now social commentator, tells Southern Metropolis Weekly (English | 中文) that some of his recent commentary was designed to deflect the immediate deletions that come with controversial statements on Chinese web platforms: Q: You once said that the first two essays were padding, while the last essay was…

  • Sorting out a dubious report on China in Africa

    Well, this doesn’t look good. American University Professor Deborah Brautigam has written a detailed criticism of a think tank commentary about Chinese agricultural investment in Mozambique, and if her conclusions are correct, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and its author have some explaining to do. First a caveat: I am not a specialist in Chinese–African…

  • Huntsman and fear of China – 'the new expat message'?

    Noted, from ChinaSolved (emphasis mine): When Huntsman says, “America First” he means “and not China”. His message is that he’s seen what can happen if the global status quo doesn’t shift – and that this is scary to the US.  Moreover, he’s in a position to do something about it.  He has seen the enemy…

  • Wiring East Asia: increased fiber optic links over the years (maps)

    About a year ago, I wrote about the limited “internet entrepôts of China,” those landing places where digital transmissions come ashore in fiber optic lines. I’ve long depended on the excellent maps from Telegeography to visualize the physical linkages that underlie the supposedly etherial network, and they’ve got a new map out. I just clipped…