China: Bloggers reconfiguring words to combat gov't censorship
Posted by Liam Berkowitz on July 3, 2008 at 1:31 PM
Bloggers in China are taking creative measures, like shuffling words and posting screenshots of text, to circumvent government censorship.
According to CNet.com's Graham Webster, the word shuffling is particularly effective because of the Chinese language's ideographic writing system, which makes it "easier to read in odd inversions than most alphabetic languages."
"Because Chinese splits words into meaning-based units rendered in characters," Webster explains, "Reading reverse text is more akin to 'bass ackwards' than 'sdrawkcab ssa.'"
The screenshot method, Webster says, is also effective - "censors aren't very good at parsing text in a JPEG file."
Webster applauds the "determination of some people in China to exchange information" despite government censorship.
Source: CNet.com
According to CNet.com's Graham Webster, the word shuffling is particularly effective because of the Chinese language's ideographic writing system, which makes it "easier to read in odd inversions than most alphabetic languages."
"Because Chinese splits words into meaning-based units rendered in characters," Webster explains, "Reading reverse text is more akin to 'bass ackwards' than 'sdrawkcab ssa.'"
The screenshot method, Webster says, is also effective - "censors aren't very good at parsing text in a JPEG file."
Webster applauds the "determination of some people in China to exchange information" despite government censorship.
Source: CNet.com
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