Back to blogging my real life

April 2, 2006 By

Since it's now April 2 in most of the rest of the world it's time to get back to reality. Sorry to Stephen Toub for helping the world get a little crazy over the past few hours. Yeah, Nick Carr, April Fools Day did jump the shark.

But, my day as head of Google's PR was fun. Hope I didn't cause too many ruffled feathers over there. I can only take fighting one company a week! Heheh.

On a more serious note, Rebecca MacKinnon continues her tracking of what's going on on the Chinese blogs and points today to Nina Wu, sister of the detained filmmaker and blogger Hao Wu.

You know, if the worst thing that happens to me is I get some pointed questions that I didn't answer well from a CTO of a public company, or get some nasty personal comments, then I am very fortunate. In many places in the world writing your thoughts can get you killed or thrown in jail. Or worse.

When people ask "does blogging matter?" I'll just answer "well, if it doesn't, then why is the Chinese government throwing people in jail because of their blogs?"

PS, tomorrow I'll change the time on my server to match Pacific Time instead of European time.

Filed Under: 1
  • http://sunandfun.blogspot.com/ Mr. Sun

    Rebecca MacKinnon is my hero (or “shero”).

    As a CNN reporter, Ms. MacKinnon was based in China and Japan for 11 years. She speaks “fluent” Mandarin Chinese. Phew! Being a native speaker of Chinese, I can tell you that that, alone, is a magnificent achievement. The linguistic gap between those two languages takes a deep commitment to overcome.

    Her resume is wide-eyed, falling-off-chair impressive; check it out: http://rconversation.blogs.com/RMacKNov2005.htm

  • http://sunandfun.blogspot.com/ Mr. Sun

    Rebecca MacKinnon is my hero (or “shero”).

    As a CNN reporter, Ms. MacKinnon was based in China and Japan for 11 years. She speaks “fluent” Mandarin Chinese. Phew! Being a native speaker of Chinese, I can tell you that that, alone, is a magnificent achievement. The linguistic gap between those two languages takes a deep commitment to overcome.

    Her resume is wide-eyed, falling-off-chair impressive; check it out: http://rconversation.blogs.com/RMacKNov2005.htm

  • http://www.gapingvoid.com/ hugh macleod

    Who said you had to matter before the Chinese government starts coming after you? ;-)

  • http://www.gapingvoid.com hugh macleod

    Who said you had to matter before the Chinese government starts coming after you? ;-)

  • Harsh

    So once again, he whole point of this drivel is that “Yahoo sucks”. Well you already said that yesterday and everyone read it. Move on now.

  • Harsh

    So once again, he whole point of this drivel is that “Yahoo sucks”. Well you already said that yesterday and everyone read it. Move on now.

  • Pingback: Information Narcosis

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ Robert Scoble

    Harsh: what kind of Merlot are you drinking? I want some!

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com Robert Scoble

    Harsh: what kind of Merlot are you drinking? I want some!

  • http://weblogs.macromedia.com/jd John Dowdell

    I’m increasingly uneasy about the MacKinnon campaign — approaches like “Jerry Yang spews excrement” trip my BS meter — she came from CNN which has a history of backroom deals influencing stories — I’ve no smoking gun, but I don’t take her automatically at face value now. A full disclosure on both finances and influences would help make me less uneasy about the way these arguments are constructed.

    For a similar situation, look at this week’s issue with Border’s and Free Inquiry — not only are the 12 Danish cartoons verboten in the west, there isn’t any mainstream talk about the three truly offensive cartoons from the Danish imams (which, under Sharia, means I guess that they should sentence *themselves* to death). (btw, the current forged letter from the Borders CEO is a great reason why corporations should have something more timely and more at-the-same-level like weblogs.)

  • http://weblogs.macromedia.com/jd John Dowdell

    I’m increasingly uneasy about the MacKinnon campaign — approaches like “Jerry Yang spews excrement” trip my BS meter — she came from CNN which has a history of backroom deals influencing stories — I’ve no smoking gun, but I don’t take her automatically at face value now. A full disclosure on both finances and influences would help make me less uneasy about the way these arguments are constructed.

    For a similar situation, look at this week’s issue with Border’s and Free Inquiry — not only are the 12 Danish cartoons verboten in the west, there isn’t any mainstream talk about the three truly offensive cartoons from the Danish imams (which, under Sharia, means I guess that they should sentence *themselves* to death). (btw, the current forged letter from the Borders CEO is a great reason why corporations should have something more timely and more at-the-same-level like weblogs.)

  • http://forevervoyaging.blogspot.com/ Mike Drips

    Would Rebecca MacKinnon ever be referenced if she didn’t keep painting a picture that MSN Spaces is some island of free speech in China and that Yahoo and Google aren’t?

    Microsoft made the same concessions to agreeing to censorship by the Chinese government as Google and Yahoo, all for the market potential of “billions of dollars”.

    If you’re not going to discuss the Chinese censorship issue in depth then quit referring to MacKinnon’s blog; she’s just a Microsoft PR shill.

    Come to think of it a discussion would be like having a conversation. Obviously blogs are not conversations; murmurs perhaps or even grumbles but not conversations.

  • http://forevervoyaging.blogspot.com Mike Drips

    Would Rebecca MacKinnon ever be referenced if she didn’t keep painting a picture that MSN Spaces is some island of free speech in China and that Yahoo and Google aren’t?

    Microsoft made the same concessions to agreeing to censorship by the Chinese government as Google and Yahoo, all for the market potential of “billions of dollars”.

    If you’re not going to discuss the Chinese censorship issue in depth then quit referring to MacKinnon’s blog; she’s just a Microsoft PR shill.

    Come to think of it a discussion would be like having a conversation. Obviously blogs are not conversations; murmurs perhaps or even grumbles but not conversations.

  • http://weblogs.macromedia.com/jd John Dowdell

    Mike, that argument doesn’t fly, because Robert *did* take a quick anti-MS stance on Rebecca’s prior anti-MS story. I thought he took a harsh and under-considered stance then myself — loose cannons with large yaps probably hinder staff at less-connected companies from writing (ie, his actions probably hindered “corporate blogging” overall) — but what you’re accusing him of is counter to observable reality.

    But the anti-MS story ping’d my BS meter too, because her reserarch, while commendable, merely showed that some terms are not acceptable in URLs in China, same as in US and other places. The anti-Cisco story did not establish that Cisco treated China differently from any other region & political power. I hear much strong speech, but when I look closely at the charges I haven’t seen compelling cases.

    I’m not saying she’s wrong, only that I haven’t been able to prove she’s right. When so many jump on the bandwagon based on the mere *length* of arguments, then I get worried…. :(

  • http://weblogs.macromedia.com/jd John Dowdell

    Mike, that argument doesn’t fly, because Robert *did* take a quick anti-MS stance on Rebecca’s prior anti-MS story. I thought he took a harsh and under-considered stance then myself — loose cannons with large yaps probably hinder staff at less-connected companies from writing (ie, his actions probably hindered “corporate blogging” overall) — but what you’re accusing him of is counter to observable reality.

    But the anti-MS story ping’d my BS meter too, because her reserarch, while commendable, merely showed that some terms are not acceptable in URLs in China, same as in US and other places. The anti-Cisco story did not establish that Cisco treated China differently from any other region & political power. I hear much strong speech, but when I look closely at the charges I haven’t seen compelling cases.

    I’m not saying she’s wrong, only that I haven’t been able to prove she’s right. When so many jump on the bandwagon based on the mere *length* of arguments, then I get worried…. :(

  • anon

    Every post about blog censorship simply crowns your hypocrisy more and more, Robert.

    When the whole blogging censorship row first broke, it was Microsoft who was doing the Chinese government’s bidding and you defended your employer’s actions.

    http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2005/06/12.html#a10366

    Hmmmmm. What’s the motive behind holding your convicted monopolist felon employer to a lower moral standard than Yahoo! and Google?

  • anon

    Every post about blog censorship simply crowns your hypocrisy more and more, Robert.

    When the whole blogging censorship row first broke, it was Microsoft who was doing the Chinese government’s bidding and you defended your employer’s actions.

    http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2005/06/12.html#a10366

    Hmmmmm. What’s the motive behind holding your convicted monopolist felon employer to a lower moral standard than Yahoo! and Google?

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ scobleizer

    Anon: huh? What kind of merlot are you drinking? I want some!

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ scobleizer

    Anon: huh? What kind of merlot are you drinking? I want some!

  • bubba

    Bobby, the Chinese aren’t arresting them because they are bloggers. It’s because they don’t want that point of view communicated. They would be targeted if it was email, static pages, messages painted on thier asses or tapes of Usenet in a stationwagon in Shanghai.

    Trying to hitch the blogging wagon to the oppression of free ideas is weak.

  • bubba

    Bobby, the Chinese aren’t arresting them because they are bloggers. It’s because they don’t want that point of view communicated. They would be targeted if it was email, static pages, messages painted on thier asses or tapes of Usenet in a stationwagon in Shanghai.

    Trying to hitch the blogging wagon to the oppression of free ideas is weak.

  • http://www.mensarticles.com/computers/711-googlegoodness.html Oodles Of Google Goodness

    May peace be with you all. Freedom is applicable to all regardless of races.

  • http://www.mensarticles.com/computers/711-googlegoodness.html Oodles Of Google Goodness

    May peace be with you all. Freedom is applicable to all regardless of races.