Step Slowly Off of That High Horse

From Thursday's New York Times:

"Since the Olympic Village press center opened Friday, reporters have been unable to access scores of Web pages — among them those that discuss Tibetan issues, Taiwanese independence, the violent crackdown on the protests in Tiananmen Square and the Web sites of Amnesty International, the BBC’s Chinese-language news, Radio Free Asia and several Hong Kong newspapers known for their freewheeling political discourse. . . . .

Chinese officials initially suggested that any troubles journalists were having with Internet access probably stemmed from the sites themselves, not any steps that China had taken to filter Web content. But Sun Weide, the chief spokesman for the Beijing Olympic organizing committee, acknowledged Wednesday that journalists would not have uncensored Internet use. “It has been our policy to provide the media with convenient and sufficient access to the Internet,” Mr. Sun said. “I believe our policy will not affect reporters’ coverage of the Olympic Games.”

Mr. Sun said foreigners  using  the Internet in China would be subject to the same laws under which censors blocked access to a wide range of Web sites thought to be detrimental to stability. China has long maintained that its laws governing Internet access do not amount to censorship and are similar to restrictions on pornography or gambling sites in many countries. . . .

The White House also urged China to lift its restrictions on the Internet. “We want to see more access for reporters, we want to see more access for everybody in China to be able to have access to the Internet,” the White House press secretary, Dana Perino, said Wednesday."

I really think the White House should just stay out of this one. Yes, as far as I know, we all still have free reign on the internet in this country. Good for us. But we all have this policy in place:

(courtesy of Friday's Washington Post)

Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.

Also, officials may share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

So now Homeland Security can tap your phone, trace where you've been online and read your email, they can also seize your laptop. WITHOUT ANY SUSPICION OF WRONGDOING.

So, yay for freedom and democracy here in America. Sure, we can visit any websites we want - but who knows what will happen after we do? Hell, with the laptop seizure policy, we don't even have to visit any "dangerous" websites to have our property seized and our private thoughts sent to various government agencies.

I know that, theoretically, this is meant to deter terrorists and/or find their plots ahead of time. It's for our own good, right?  But the Chinese government believes that blocking certain websites is for THEIR citizens' own good. And let's face it, the potential for abuse - in both cases - is vast. But you don't see the Chinese government - or any other government - putting us down for our draconian policy. Shouldn't we let them have theirs?

Or, at least, could we pick on their serious human rights abuses? The jailing of dissidents? Tibet? Religious freedom? Darfur? Torture? (Oh wait, maybe we shouldn't bring that up either) Stuff that's a bigger deal than reporters not getting to access some websites.