Kerabu

China's not-so-great wall

Techdirt points to a story in the Toronto Star about three Canadian hackers who have created a software work-around for China's "great firewall."  The subtle irony is that the hackers' solution, called Psiphon, is inherently cooperative:  "Psiphon takes the concept of a third-party computer doing the work yours can't because of censorship, and protects it by relying on trusted friends and close family, to create a program the creators say is nearly fail-safe." One has to love the idea of the failure of the enforced, monolithic collective inspiring genuine, entrepreneurial cooperation. The fact, as Techdirt points out, that three hackers are able to out-perform a cast of 30,000 censors also suggests another truth:  that freedom is always cheaper and more efficient than opression.

Cross posted on Samizdata.

You say China, I say Rutabaga

Now that Google has agreed to block certain Chinese search terms like "e**ality" and "de***racy." The solution, it seems to me, is to take an entrepreneurial approach to helping the Chinese find work-arounds that will give them access to the information they seek.

So here's what I propose: let's look at the list of these forbidden keywords (here) and devise clever euphemisms for them, followed by descriptive definitions that make clear what the new terms denote--the list can be passed around like a chain letter. If enough bloggers posted the list, it will be impossible for google to block every site, and our Chinese brothers and sisters could simply google the new word for China--rutabaga--and find the list (along with the odd root vegetable appreciation blog, but hey, it's the most obscure-yet-ordinary, hide-it-in-plain-sight word I could come up with on short notice). 

Using the ordinary yet specific words would give them a language in which to talk about what they want and need to talk about. Seems the least we can do to help.

I'll do the first five "forbidden" search terms (some are words, others word combos). Anyone who wants to carry on down the list, take it and run with it:

"Turnip" - def.: a small, landlocked, mountainous country in East Asia where they eat a lot of potstickers and ring a lot of bells.

"Cabbage + Rutabaga" - def.: a small, isolated and highly prosperous Asian subdivision, often preceded by the words "made in" + the biggest little country in Asia.

"Jalapeno" - def: the concept of things or people being on a par with each other.

"Crabapple + Rutabaga" - def.: the theory and practice of picking a body of windbags and a chief windbag by polling all of the people who bother to show up on the designated day + the biggest little country in Asia.

"Gooseberry + Rutabaga" - def: a disgruntled person who speaks their mind + the biggest little country in Asia.

I'm going to pass this off to my good friend Jackie, who will hopefully introduce her own non-vegetative verbiage for the next couple of terms.

Oursourcing Arnold?

This from FC Now about the Chinese market for Hollywood movies.  It looks as if the restrictions on foreign movies (the Chinese government only allows the release of 20 foreign films a year, and 90% of DVDs are pirated).  So what is Hollywood doing?  One smart thing and one stupid thing.  The stupid thing first: signing an anti-piracy pact with the Chinese government.  Stupid it's a reaction to a problem, not a solution to a problem.  The smart thing?  The industry is looking into actually making movies in China.

FC Now says:

But could the unchecked piracy of the past several years eventually work in Hollywood's favor? Pirates have created an unquenchable thirst for American culture that could pay off in the long run if, the powers that be get it right. As a way to get around the Chinese government's foreign release rule Hollywood execs are now on their way to China looking for partners. Warner Brothers is planning to build modern multiplexes as China only has 2,500 movie theaters for 1.3 billion people.

FC and Hollywood both appear to be thinking only in terms of making movies for Chinese audience in China.  But if you ask me they're missing the real Aha! moment--why not make all movies in China, especially Arnold Schwarzenegger-style blockbusters?  Personally, I'd feel a lot better spending $9 at the multiplex knowing that some of it was going to create a professional class of artisans and technicians in China.  And I'd especially love not having to spend more than $9 next year....

While you were sleeping

From George Eby Mathew's Bangalore blog, Guruspeak:

I read three nuggets of data recently that prompted me to put this up for everyone:

Patent applications in China, India, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan grew sevenfold between 1989 and 2001. During that same time, the U.S. increased its patent portfolio by only 116 percent.

The Economist Intelligence Unit, the research arm of The Economist magazine, published a survey in September 2004 showing that global executives plan to make more R&D investments in China than anyplace else over the next three years. The U.S. finished a distant second, followed closely by India.

In 2000, Asian universities accounted for nearly 1.2 million science and engineering degrees, compared to 850,000 in Europe and 500,000 in North America, according to the NSF. And in 2001, more than half the science and engineering postdoctoral positions in the U.S. were held by foreign-born scholars.