This morning the Chinese government blocked access to the popular video sharing site YouTube after over 20 videos about protests in Tibet appeared on the site.
The protests, which occurred in the Tibetan capital Lhasa on Friday, were against Chinese rule. The government has been blocking news broadcasts since the protests in an effort to control what the public knows about the events.
The videos were mainly of foreign news reports and montages of photos taken from the scene. The Chinese government has not yet officially confirmed that they have blocked the site, but Chinese citizens trying to access the site are met with a blank screen.
China has the second largest amount of Internet users at 210 million and is expected to soon surpass the US for largest population of internet users.
This news follows recent decisions by other countries to Block access to YouTube. Last month Pakistan blocked access because of “anti-Islamic” postings. Late last year Turkey made a similar move but the access was only blocked for a couple of days.
Result for: chinese citizens
According to a report from China.org.cn, Chinese citizens are upset over Microsoft’s latest anti-piracy tactics.
The software giant is bringing its Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) and Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) software to China next week, but the software will be more intrusive then it is for US users.
Users of pirated Windows will see reminders every few hours that they should purchase legitimate software and occasionally the software will turn your screen black. A Microsoft official described it this way:
“The user may reset the background to a wallpaper or another background color, but every 60 minutes, the desktop will be reset to a plain black color until the copy of Windows passes validation. In addition, a persistent notification will appear in the lower right corner of the desktop.”
Luckily for Chinese pirates, the software is opt-in so if they do not want it they do not have to download it.
