August 14
This could be the end of Youtube in China
The Legal Evening News reports that the agency is making new rules regarding Internet video content, aiming primarily at "pornography and illegal short films". And by illegal you mean? Unlicenced by SARFT, according to an order by this agency dated July 2004. "Any audio/video programing shot or recorded, consisting of continuous, moving images and/or sounds" comes under SARFT jurisdiction. And since it'd be virtually impossible for video uploading sites like Youtube.com, which has become crazily popular in China and spawned endless copycats, to apply for licence for each and every one of their film clips, it could easily be imagined that SARFT could resort to the old one-off solution -- block the whole site. Damn me for making this dire prophecy, but they are known to have done worse things.
But my guess is, before doing that they will probably try to enforce it on domestic Web sites first -- and even that would be a most daunting task given the sheer volume of work to be done. The bureaucrats are to be commended for their ambition and ignorance as always. But pray to Marx, do let us know what happens to this grand regulatory project.
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