In Communist China, Blogs Post You!

Today, the Globe and Mail reported that the Internet Society of China has maintained the iron (curtained?) control over the Asian nation's bloggers. The government-sanctioned group requires Chinese blog hopefuls to "register with their real names and identification cards."

Take that, ilikehats87 and sxy_chnz_chk!

The rules set out by the ISC contradict rumours claiming that the Chinese Government was going to stop being total e-dicks and loosen their grip on online identification guidelines.

Globe writer Alexa Olesen reports: "Critics [of the ISC rules] say the requirement violates a blogger's right to freedom of expression and puts them at risk of punishment or imprisonment if they post controversial opinions about politics, religion or other issues."

We at MALITM (BAAN) totally agree. If we Canadians suffered by the same token, think of all the e-bullying, online stalking, web-based sex predators, and kiddie porn our country would be missing out on!

If this doesn't faze you, I ask you to consider this example that, no doubt, hits closer to home. The next time you're on facebook.com, check out Lovelace, that sexy-voiced penguin from the movie Happy Feet. Now, we all know that that profile isn't actually Lovelace. Even if Lovelace was a real penguin and not computer-animated and voiced by Robin Williams, we all know that penguins cannot type, and barely read.

In China, under these new rules, a clever child fresh from the movie theatre couldn't just go home and create a blog for Lovelace, even if he or she really, really wanted to. And, for those of you doubting Thomases or Tinas who are asking, "Who wants to be friends with a fictional penguin, anyways?"

Well, Thomas/Tina, I sure do.

So, just remember that censorship, whether direct or indirect, is totally wrong, and Chinese people should not be afraid to blog anonymously and write whatever they like. The Green Tea crop a little nasty this year, my friends to the East? I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT.

NOTE: I love Stephen Harper, CSIS, the Judicial System, The RCMP, environmentalists, the Town of Markham, and anyone else that may be pissed off at me right now. Oh, and the Chinese Government can do no wrong. Never ever.