Live data from Hacker News

China bans Twitter

features.csmonitor.com

1–10 of 20 posts

Re: China bans Twitter

#3
post #2

I wonder what China would do if we started randomly banning products from China for a few days at a time?

How can we call this Free Trade when one side has open access to markets and the other side can doesn't.

Anybody ever manage a popular Web site that goes black for days? People forget about the web site, the momentum is gone, and you lose a lot of business.

There is nothing fair about our trade policies. This is a big part of what America does - create information systems, and it's not fair that China can block it with no good reason.

Re: China bans Twitter

#4
post #3
post #2

I wonder what China would do if we started randomly banning products from China for a few days at a time?

How can we call this Free Trade when one side has open access to markets and the other side can doesn't. Anybody ever manage a popular Web site that goes black for days? People forget about the web site, the momentum is gone, and you lose a lot of business. There is nothing fair about our trade policies. This is a big part of what America does - create information systems, and it's not fair that China can block it wi…

Who said international competition was fair? Presumably, the Chinese government pursues policies which it feels are to its advantage and which it has the leverage to get away with.

Also, I suspect this is more due to the government's inability to control the content on these sites than to the desire to promote local firms over foreign ones (although that's probably a bonus, from their perspective).

Re: China bans Twitter

#5
post #3
post #2

I wonder what China would do if we started randomly banning products from China for a few days at a time?

How can we call this Free Trade when one side has open access to markets and the other side can doesn't. Anybody ever manage a popular Web site that goes black for days? People forget about the web site, the momentum is gone, and you lose a lot of business. There is nothing fair about our trade policies. This is a big part of what America does - create information systems, and it's not fair that China can block it wi…

People asked the same question about Japan in the 70s and 80s. Japanese products like cars were over here, but it was almost impossible to sell a North American product in Japan.

But people voted for politicians who give them access to the goods they want to buy without worrying about nuänces on international trade disputes.

If we shut Wal-Mart down and blocked Honda from selling cars here, there would be an outcry.

Re: China bans Twitter

#6
A few years back China was banning certain Google web properties. Then once Baidu.com got its feet off the ground and with some government subsidy became the more popular search engine in China, they un-did the blocking of those Google sites. I wonder why?

Re: China bans Twitter

#8

A few years back China was banning certain Google web properties. Then once Baidu.com got its feet off the ground and with some government subsidy became the more popular search engine in China, they un-did the blocking of those Google sites. I wonder why?

yes there is going to be a a very succesful chinese twitter clone ,no doubt about it ... probably with a little more delay built in ...

Re: China bans Twitter

#9
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can we call this Free Trade when one side has open access to markets and the other side can doesn't. Anybody ever manage a popular Web site that goes black for days? People forget about the web site, the momentum is gone, and you lose a lot of business. There is nothing fair about our trade policies. This is a big part of what America does - create information systems, and it's not fair that China can block it wi…

People asked the same question about Japan in the 70s and 80s. Japanese products like cars were over here, but it was almost impossible to sell a North American product in Japan. But people voted for politicians who give them access to the goods they want to buy without worrying about nuänces on international trade disputes. If we shut Wal-Mart down and blocked Honda from selling cars here, there would be an outcry.

It was a very good thing for the US that we didn't have restrictions on imports. That's why trade negotiations are so backwards, if you look at them from a consumer perspective: "I'll hurt my people less, but only IF you also hurt your people less".

Access to better cars is good. The small, small minority of people in an individual industry hurt by more competition should react like any of us would in the things we build: try to build something better.

Re: China bans Twitter

#10
post #2

I wonder what China would do if we started randomly banning products from China for a few days at a time?

This has nothing, nothing, to do with trade or business. This isn't about supporting local Chinese businesses, or shafting American firms.

This is all about June 4th, the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. Twitter has proven to be an effective "back channel" of communication that's outside of government control, so the fine folks in Beijing don't want it being used on the 4th.

This is all about internal Chinese politics, which trump business concerns every time.

Post reply on HN