Andre Yoskowitz
23 Jul 2010 21:28
The Chinese government has unblocked access to online pornography over the past two months, reports the AP, with porn sites and forums now accessible after years of being behind "The Great Firewall."
Pornographic websites have been available now for eight weeks, and there is still no word from officials in Beijing as to whether the move is an official change in policy.
Says Beijing-based internet analyst Zhao Jing: "This has never been done with the (Chinese) internet before." When asked why he believed the government was pulling such a move, he responded: "Maybe they are thinking that if internet users have some porn to look at, then they won't pay so much attention to political matters."
Those political matters are, of course, any website relating to human rights, or any challenge to the communist political authority in the nation.
There are 420 million Chinese connected to the Internet, by far the world's largest online population. It also has the world's most extensive censorship system, including technical filters and even human monitors.