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Subscribe to RSSSEOUL, South Korea – It’s a strange thing to be reading about China’s continued crackdown on the Internet from our temporary perch in Seoul.
The last time I was here was in 1989. The Pre-Internet Age.
This time, on my first visit in more than 20 years, South Korea owns the mantle of the world’s fastest Internet connection, according to a quarterly survey known as the State of the Internet by Akamai. It's on average four times as fast as that of the U.S.
But that just isn’t fast enough.
By the end of next year, the South Korean government plans to have every home in the nation hooked up to the Internet at a speed of one gigabit per second. Imagine being able to download the entire Godfather trilogy in 20 seconds.
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A woman walks past the logo of Google in front of its headquarters in Beijing in this January 2011 file photo.
Gmail service, interrupted
In the meantime, over in China, land of the Great Firewall, reports are emerging that the download speed of Gmail has plunged. We won’t get into the technicalities of kbps, but let’s just say Gmail is now operating 45 times slower than the most popular free Chinese instant messaging service known as QQ.
The disruptions to Gmail don’t end there. For weeks now, ordinary Gmail users have complained about interrupted service. Writer Wang Lixiong tweeted that he received this message from Gmail when he tried to log in: “Your account is locked, because abnormal activities are detected. You may have to wait 24 hours before you can log in again.”
Another user told my colleague Bo Gu that China Unicom appears to be blocking Gmail entirely from mobile devices.
And in the wake of calls for Jasmine rallies foreign journalists in China have been vigilant about attempts to hack into their email accounts.
The disrupted service coincides with a surge in reported failures of several VPNs (virtual private networks), designed to circumvent China’s Internet firewall.
On Monday, Google accused the Chinese government of obstructing access to its Gmail service, saying the company had checked everything on its own end and concluded that the problems are the result of a “blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has denied the accusation.
Speedy Internet = Open Internet
South Korea’s drive to lead the way globally in broadband access originated in the mid-1990s, but its efforts stepped up immediately after its economy was crippled by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. And technology became a cornerstone of the government’s strategy to reboot and refashion its economy.
Seoul's approach to the Internet is instructive. Although there are many reasons it has managed to power ahead of the pack, there is one that stands out in sharp relief against what’s happening in China: the open (and highly competitive) nature of its telecoms market.
“The idea behind an “open” system is essentially that, for a fee, broadband providers must share the cables that carry Internet signals into people’s homes,” says one report. “Companies that build those lines typically oppose this sharing. A number of governments, including South Korea and Japan and several European countries, have experimented with or embraced infrastructure-sharing as a way to get new companies to compete in the broadband market.”
China doesn’t allow that kind of openness—either in its infrastructure or in its content.
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Cutoff ALL Chinese imports to show support for a free and democratic China.
Better, also launch a cyber war against China. They already launched one against the West.
Let the Chinese do it to themselves, their government can't suppress knowledge and curiosity. They can only manipulate the truth.
But I do agree that a world economy is to dangerous and unstable to be dependent on because there will always be a crisis somewhere in the world and a level of protection and balance should be in place.
Despots are all afraid of free and democratic communications capabilities. The first thing to be cut off are telecommunication and the Internet when their corruption and 'powers' are questioned.The greatest equalizer of all times is the Internet.
Cutoff all imports from China? Yeah right... imagine the revolt if people can't get their cheap Wal-Mart fix anymore... we want to sever ourselves from these types of economies that provide cheap labor but we don't want to change/sacrifice our lifestyle to do so.
Back to the main topic: So THAT's why I always lose in online gaming to Koreans! Dang slow US internet!!
Yea, when the United States cutoffs all imports from China, China will demand the United States repay the l Trillion plus we owe them. Then Obama would not have anyone to borrow from, since the Japanese might have to tell the U.S. to give the the $800 billion we owe them.
The best thing to do is get out of Chinese markets and most of the jobs WILL come back but our government and corporations are just as greedy and we won't do the morally right thing.
Is there really no way to circumvent chinese internet providers in China? NOT that I am trying to say that would be a good idea or anything. Just wondering.
How about a congressional act nullifies our debt to China?
but then where would you get all your stuff
also...wtf is up with people making these like ridiculous demands as a suggestions to change something. "Cutoff ALL imports from china" "Shoot all these people" "hang them up by their heads" "immediately stop all funding for 'pet project'"
People are absolutely ridiculous sometimes
See, lack of citizen global awareness is why China has a successful domestic economy. Control the media, then create some kind of new service provider called Pirate China or piranha.net (sounds like piranha, might be cool). Make the people think they are getting some cool new rebellious product that is really the same as the old and voila....money. Better yet, let Google China start it, I invest in Google and voila....I make money. All that and I don't even have to leave my cave. Can do it all from the Internet :).
"How about a congressional act nullifies our debt to China?"
Someone doesn't have a very good understanding of how bond markets, currency valuation, etc. works... The simplest response is that "nullifying debt" would be pretty much make us persona non-grata in the world economy.
sfcret
Mark Twain, "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
You obviously have no understanding of the US debt beyond how much each country holds. If you knew anything about Treasuries, you would know that China and Japan cannot come to the US government and say give me my money. The only time they can do that is when the Treasuries reach their date of maturity or if they have a non-marketable Series EE or I bonds. There is a penalty on the latter for early redemption.
After the Treasuries are sold by the US government, China and Japan have to go to the secondary market and find someone else to buy it from them. This is assuming it is a marketable security as there are some types that cannot be sold in a secondary market. The only thing that would happen if China and Japan tried to unload their debt in mass is to cause the price of the Treasuries to go down on the secondary market. If there is a large supply of Treasuries being sold and no demand of people buying them, then the price they could sell them for would go down until a demand is created. Basically they would be devaluing their investment and lowering their return. It would potentially make it harder for the US government to sell new Treasuries as investors might be able to get a better return by buying from the secondary market instead of directly from the US government. So your worse case scenario would only make it more difficult for the US government to fund future deficits.
"sfcret: Yea, when the United States cutoffs all imports from China, China will demand the United States repay the l Trillion plus we owe them. Then Obama would not have anyone to borrow from, since the Japanese might have to tell the U.S. to give the the $800 billion we owe them."
Okay, fine. Go ahead and demand repayment all you want. Do you know what that really means? Either China will get repaid in worthless U.S. paper, which is fine we're happy to do that -- or China will have to import U.S. products and services, which means fewer imports from China to the U.S., and more exports from the U.S. to China.
I don't see a down side for the U.S. either way.
Forward thinking S. Korea . Repressive China . Who is afraid of their own people ?
"...and the truth shall set you free."
South Korea has the fastest internet, and our companies squabble about "throttling, access fees, access quotas". AT&T wants to buy T-Mobile, resulting in more concentration and less competition. The FCC is a revolving door of lobbyists and former communications CEO's. Another area that we're going to fall behind in, that we had a major role in inventing!
Agreed. We are also way behind on the Cell Phone market because of those same reasons. Granted we can't seem to get any sort of infrastructure in place for a simular system because we spend the money on everyone else's wars :(
We are all paying attention to the social-media inspired violent destabilizing of middle east oil countries by western companies and media. The west is even supporting Al Qaeda in Libya so that ultimate destabilization is reached and oil can be gotten cheaply. This facilitation of hate-speech (see George Orwell, 2 minute daily hates in 1984) for resource acquisition is not new but hyper-accelerated to destabilize world regions by personal computer connections. China is wise to be cautious. The real revolution the world needs is of compassion and Satyagraha (truth-search). Gandhi's method involved the dialectic searching of best intentions for both friends and enemies, with the goal of helping achieve these. Both-Sides-Now, equal time recorded dialogues published in media can defuse violence, bring us understanding of diverse perspectives and empower us to work together.
god douglas, smoke another bong hit and come back to the real world
I think the real story is that S Korea permits other ISPs to lease the cable infrastructure from those that build out the network. I remember when AOL tried to lease the cable from ATT/Comcast. That failed in our courts (or was it the FCC?) but appears to have succeeded in S Korea. S Koreans reap gigafast internet and we linger behind. WE made a mistake, and China is making an even bigger mistake.
Right you are, Buckhoe. In the U.S., the infrastructure owners control the internet, and there is minimal competition to improve service. That's way our internet service sucks compared to that in S. Korea, Japan, or Europe. It stems from a decision made by the F.C.C. several years ago - a decision that needs to be reversed so that the U.S. cable owners are forced to share their infrastructure and allow true competition.
In the future, we'll be buying our clean-tech goods from China and following S. Korea's lead with wideband Internet applications. What fields will the US lead? Political nonsense?
The US will not lead in anything in the future. We will be a nation comprised of low wage workers, and a thin crust of billionaires. The dithering in Washington and the amazing stupidiity of the average American has turned us into a failed state.
The US will lead in the number of airheads running for president.....because they can.
Set a minimum standard for all candidates in knowledge of world military powers and political movements.
You should have to take a basic test to vote - and forget about voting if you don't pay taxes.
"China doesn’t allow that kind of openness". The only thing China will open for people within it's country are it's cell doors for prisoners to walk in to serve time for whatever China decides you have done. At least we all know they will give you a fair trial before they put you in prison and we know it is was a fair trial because they said it was and we can all trust China. (sic)
China's prisons???
The U.S.A just set the world's record for having the most people incarerated at one time. Over two million people are in jails and prisons right now. about half of those are 1st time drug offenders.
Yep, the land of the free, how can a country with 5% of the worlds populations have that many people in jail?
Actually, it is probably worse than that. We have run out of constructive things for prisoners to do. We don't have any future when and if they get out, so our recidivism is number one, too.
Thats cause we put people in jail for things like rape, where other countries have such limited rights for women. It's cause countries like China have anyone that even speaks against their government put in prisons and anyone associated with drugs is killed. So thats a good reason on why we have a higher population of people incarcerated. In China some 18 year old makes a dumb mistake and gets caught with drugs, hes executed. Would you rather have a higher incarceration rate, or a higher amount of people ut to death for overall somewhat minor offenses by our standards. Not that i agree with US laws on marijuana and whatnot. But sure are better then getting caught in China for it
Buckhoe is right on; the monopolies on cable infrastructure in America is the REAL story.
All the talk about banning China's good from the U.S. is a little late. The cow is already out of the barn. Their economy is at the point where they can support themselfs if the U.S. stops buying their goods. When you look at how their armed forces are becoming more modern, its scary how the U.S. has left themselves become subordinate to China. Alsos keep in mind that the U.S. bought Alaska from Russia for $27 million because Russia was in a money crunch. I'm sure China has their eye on the untapped resources of Alaska when the U.S. falls behind on the loan payments.
Sell Alaska to the Chinese as long as they agree to take Palin in the deal. Will go a long way in reducing the number of airheads running for president.
I'm a conservative but I wholehearted agree, anything to get Palin out would be a good deal!
Well, as one has alluded to our debt with [especially] China: when one [USA] is so deeply indebted to another [China], the indebted one is, more or less, at the lender's mercy. When the time is right [for China], it will be somthing akin to defenders of the Alamo and Santa Ana. China will demand complete surrender, or else they will give no quarter to the defenders. This may seem a bit far-fetched to some, however, a blind man can listen to the retoric and behavior of our politicians, which show that they care nothing about the good of America or of Americans, but only what is good for their pocket books and their 'party'. It is sad, yes; but America has seen it's best days. Unless, of course, there could be a revival of patriotic Americanism.
try to tell welfare moms they can only have one kid,some times the chineese are right,i am sure that a man in china with the ability to raise more than one can have more.it`s about being a burden.
The US needs an open system. Our internet speeds are too low and everyone is not connected to broadband.
Well, the Chinese are doing a poor job of cracking down. I get about a dozen TCP port scan attacks backtraced from central China per day. unless of course that govt is the one doing the scanning, in which case, for SHAME!
"By the end of next year, the South Korean government plans to have every home in the nation hooked up to the Internet at a speed of one gigabit per second. Imagine being able to download the entire Godfather trilogy in 20 seconds."
Wow, we, U.S. of A., are left behind again.
And, our Senate and House can not even find a way to communicate with the President regarding to the U.N. resolutions. They are left behind, too.
Perhaps, S.O.S. in terms of communication.
It isn't just the competition. South Korea has a dense population which makes high speed internet technically cheap. Cost out running gigabit in Montana and you will see what I mean.
The US is moving from wired to wireless and THAT is the place innovation is happening.
Even in the area of wireless, Asia is leaving us behind. Cell phone technology here in North America is behind Asia.
Surprise, surprise! Communist China consoring worldwide communication/information. Is this really news?
SK advantage... we pay for most of the military protection. The US would thrive also if we didn't have to carry our own weight. Lets start making SK pay at least the cost and see how great their economy/tech ability is. The part that is idiotic is we are subsidizing a whole country to compete against the US...SK is ROTFLTAO at us.
if anyone any where in the world eats donkeys scrotum im betting its china
Re: sfcret (your a moron)
rockne1865 America had to borrow that money because the Rich paid The Republicans to give them tax cuts they now pay almost no taxes & since the rich sent all our jobs to China the poor (formally the working class) can't pay! anyone who thinks the poor sent jobs to China is an A$$
What the Chinese authorities do about internet operations in their country is their business, but when the government authorities interferes with the system in this country, it becomes our business since it stifles commerce and our ability to discover the truth.
Yep, what China wants to do, let them do. And Let us do as we choose.
I choose to recognize Taiwan as China, ignore mainland, and hope for the day when we stop sending mainland china any money.