Gootchy gootchy goo!
More on President Hu’s visit from the Seattle Weekly. And cute culture, ala Chang-Ling’s thesis.
The best example of the new faces of the police state are Jingjing (not to be confused with the Olympics’ Jingjing) and Chacha, two animated police officers that pop up on Chinese computers. When you combine their names—Jingcha—it spells “police.” Introduced in the booming southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, the two cartoon cop icons float around on computer screens to remind Internet users that they are being monitored by the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau’s Internet Surveillance Center. The icons are there to make people think twice before posting messages or visiting any Web sites that might be questionable, illegal, or subversive. Not only are the Chinese working with Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo to censor the Internet, they’ve got virtual cybercops as backup intimidators.
Computer users can also click on the Jingjing and Chacha icons to report crimes—a handy way to inform on your fellow netizens. Chen Minli, director of the surveillance center, told the Financial Times, “All around the world there are Internet police, but they always operate backstage. . . . No other Internet police have stepped to the front of the stage. We really feel that this is a historic breakthrough.” If only the National Security Agency were so thoughtful.
and
As the Chinese diplomatic juggernaut leaves Seattle for the nation’s capital, its carry-on bags bulging with new software and Boeing jets, one shudders to think what might happen if Karl Rove picks up any ideas from Hu and company. With George W. Bush’s popularity at an all-time low, we might end up with a new White House spokescharacter: a lovable, bespectacled panda named “Dick-Dick” telling us that candy and garlands await us in Iran after we drop a nuke-nuke there.
A little bit of sugar does make the medicine go down.
How sickening is it that Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo! are more than willing to administer this medicine just for their piece of the market share? It disgusts me. Another reason to never work for MS.