“On Monday, the Chinese government demonstrated just how much power it has over the opinions of its billion-strong population by deciding to ban use of a single letter,” Matthew Humphries reports for PC Magazine. “That letter is ‘N’ and its censorship followed moves by the Chinese Communist Party to remove the ten year limit on a presidency from the country’s Constitution.”
“As the BBC explained, the party is proposing to remove the expression ‘shall serve no more than two consecutive terms’ from the country’s Constitution in relation to how long both the President and Vice-President can remain in power,” Humphries reports. “If removed, it would mean current President Xi Jinping could rule for as long as he wants and continue to consolidate his power.”
“As you’d expect, the discussion that followed this proposal online was far from positive. Business Insider reports that China’s Internet censors went into overdrive, banning words including ‘Xi JinP,’ ’emigrate,’ ‘lifelong,’ ‘indefinite control,’ and “‘I disagree.”‘ But they also went a step further and banned all use of the letter ‘N.’ That may sound strange until you realize in China, N is the equivalent of how we use X in algebra to represent an unknown value. N also represents infinity,” Humphries reports. “Chats on services such as the very popular Weibo were using N in a number of ways including to represent how long Xi Jinping would now be in power (infinity)…”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Why can’t Chinese citizens be trusted with freedom?
Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself. — Potter Stewart
Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech. ― Benjamin Franklin
If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. ― George Washington
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. ― United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Internet treats censorship as a malfunction and routes around it. — John Perry Barlow
SEE ALSO:
Apple is under fire for moving iCloud data to China; Amnesty International blasts move – February 28, 2018
Apple moves to store iCloud keys in China, raising human rights fears – February 26, 2018
Apple’s China lesson: Think different, but not too different – February 26, 2018
Apple in talks for first order from a Chinese chipmaker – February 14, 2018
Apple utterly dominates the premium smartphone market in China with 85% share – February 7, 2018
Apple warns users who created Apple IDs overseas on dodging China’s new data law – January 12, 2018
How U.S. iCloud users can ensure their data isn’t migrated to state-owned servers in China – January 11, 2018
Apple sets date to turn over cloud operations to a state-owned data center in China – January 10, 2018
U.S. Senate Republican Marco Rubio hits Tim Cook for kowtowing to China – December 13, 2017
Apple CEO Cook kissed the ring in China because he had no choice – December 4, 2017
Apple CEO Cook in China: Internet must have security, humanity – December 4, 2017
U.S. Senators Ted Cruz and Patrick Leahy blast Apple CEO Tim Cook for removing VPN apps from App Store in China – October 20, 2017
Apple issues statement regarding removal of VPN apps from China App Store – July 31, 2017
Apple removes VPN apps from China App Store – July 29, 2017
Apple sets up China data center to meet new cybersecurity rules – July 12, 2017
Analyst: China iPhone sales are pivotal for Apple – June 26, 2017
In bid to improve censorship, China to summon Apple execs to discuss stricter App Store oversight – April 20, 2017
Apple CEO Tim Cook named recipient of Newseum’s 2017 Free Expression Award – February 2, 2017