iTunes blocked in China after protest stunt (1 Viewer)

[Born2baplacebo]

Access to Apple's online iTunes Store has been blocked in China after it emerged that Olympic athletes have been downloading and possibly listening to a pro-Tibetan music album in a subtle act of protest against China's rule over the province.
The album, called Songs for Tibet, was produced by an a group called The Art of Peace Foundation, and features 20 tracks from well-known singers and songwriters including Sting, Moby, Suzanne Vega and Alanis Morissette.
It was released as a download on the iTunes Store on August 5 - three days before the start of the Olympics - with the physical CD launched on Tuesday this week.
The Foundation provided free downloads of the album to Olympic athletes, urging them to play the songs on their iPods during the Games as a show of support.
Funds raised from the sale of the album are being used by the non-profit Foundation to support "peace-related projects that are dear to the Dalai Lama", the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader whom China regards as subversive.
On Monday, expatriate iTunes users living in China began experiencing technical problems with their previously unfettered access.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/08/20/1218911831534.html

 

[HalcyonSky]

I dont get why china keep doing things like this despite the international spotlight being right on them, dont they realise this shit is whack?

 

[dodgyv]

I dont get why china keep doing things like this despite the international spotlight being right on them, dont they realise this shit is whack?

China is a communist country. that has done F'in well 2 move away from it. Its obviously these types of things that remain a negative trait of the communist side of CHina. LLALALALLALALALALALAAL anyways Man...its Asia.... many of the CHinese poeple would probably use LIMWIRE 2 DL that shiattttt ^^ LOL

 

[Slidey]

I have to wonder... surely the Chinese citizens would begin to question their government's integrity and validity due to the seemingly arbitrary nature of its censorship practices?

I mean, they aren't so brainwashed as in 1984 are they?

"China has always been at war with iTunes!"

 

[Nebuchanezzar]

^No. President Hu Jintao and they're politburo know best what's for comrade Chinese national among all.

 

[zstar]

Doesn't really matter considering there's tonnes of mp3 sites in China that offer music for free like mtvtop.net that offer Asian and Western music completely for free.

 

[melonkitten]

When we had a chinese exchange student at our house, we told him about the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

Really fucked him over

 

[Born2baplacebo]

Dalai Lama muso didn't mean to hit iTunes
source

The man behind the controversial pro-Dalai Lama music download which is being linked to the apparent blocking of Apple's online iTunes Store in China says it was never his intention to provoke such a response.

The album, Songs for Tibet, was offered as a free download to athletes attending the Olympic Games. They were encouraged to listen to the songs on their iPods whilst in Beijing as a act of solidarity with Tibetan people and the non-violent philosophies of their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Up to 40 athletes are thought to have taken up the offer and Mike Wohl , the executive director of The Art of Peace Foundation which produced the album, says that it is understood that some of the downloads were made while the athletes were in Beijing.

But he insisted that the campaign to recruit Olympians was not intended to make a big political statement. "We were trying to do the subtlest of subtle things," he said in a telephone interview. "I didn't want to get anyone in trouble."

He also confirmed that pro-Tibet interest groups in Australian were contacted to help recruit supporters from among the ranks of Australian Olympians but was not able to say if any had taken up the offer.

The album features the work of well-known singers and songwriters including Sting, Moby, StephenSuzanne Vega and Alanis Morissette. Most of the songs are re-works or re-mixes; a few were written specifically for the project.

Wohl said that the Dalai Lama espouses a philosophy that links global peace with "our collective personal peace". The artists were asked to write or record songs which represented these aims.

He describes the album as a "vertical integration of this conncept of peace" and a celebration of the "philosphy of non-violence that the Dalai Lama champions".

China regards the Dalai Lama as a so-called "splittist" because of his oppostiion to China's rule in Tibet from where he fled into exile in 1959 after the Communists' "peaceful liberation" of his homeland.

"Our whole point is freedom of expression," Mr Wohl said. "We have no political agenda whatsoever."

Wohl also defended Apple, saying the company' was nothing more than "an innocent bystander in all this". In addition to the iTunes Store , the album is available as a paid download on about 100 website including Amazon and Wal-Mart, he said.

 

[Zingy]

anyways Man...its Asia.... many of the CHinese poeple would probably use LIMWIRE 2 DL that shiattttt ^^ LOL

Not funny, etc.