I wish I could claim credit for that phrase.
But I can't.
"The Great Firewall of China" is a phrase coined to disparage the Chinese government's Golden Shield project.
Golden Shield is China's $800 million dollar Internet lockdown; probably the most sophisticated Internet filtering system of its kind.
Two or three sides are fighting over Internet regulation here in the United States, but in China, the battle is already lost.
(Type Falun Gong into a web browser in a Chinese Internet cafe and watch how fast the police show up after the sirens go off.)
Companies like Cisco happily sold all kinds of filtering gear to the Chinese--what, you thought they manufactured all this stuff themselves?
Hardly.
I'm all for making a buck--God knows, I need them, so I understand the rationale behind the sales.
And Cisco's shareholders would have crucified their board if they didn't make the deal.
Dollar bills don't have a conscience.
But I do.
Which might surprise some people.
Bill Xia heads up a company called Dynamic Internet Technology. He launched it six years ago, and its purpose was to assault the Great Firewall.
Bill brings uncensored Internet to Chinese end users--the citizens. About a million of them make use of his company's software, designed to get around the Great Firewall.
I'm sure any journalist reading this will want to take advantage of the toolkit before they go overseas.
Go right here to get it: The Global Internet Freedom Consortium. There's a zip file that's got 5 tools for busting through the Firewall, right in the middle of the page.
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