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In China, This Photo May be Porn

beijing
ham-handed directive illustrates the depths of Beijing's digital dilemma.

(Warning: This column may contain images and ideas not suitable for children or citizens of China.)

Examine, if you dare, the photograph at the top of this story.

It's right there for any man, woman or child to see: a naked couple cavorts, bare limbs draped seductively across the frame, their fleshy faces pressed together like a couple of animals. Clearly, this image is pornographic.

Or so says the Chinese government's latest attempt to regulate the internet.

If that sounds stupid, it's because it is. But by potentially treating these porcine pixels as "harmful material for the public," Beijing is straining under a self-imposed digital dilemma: how to promote the internet to boost economic growth and efficiency, while allowing the central government to maintain some degree of control over Chinese society.

If pigs are porn, then clearly the strategy still has some kinks. (More on that in a moment.)

This past week, the Chinese government issued a sweeping directive: Beginning July 1 every personal computer sold in the country must include new software that filters pornography and other content from the view of China's 300 million internet users.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Beijing aims to "construct a green, healthy and harmonious internet environment, and prevent harmful information on the internet from influencing and poisoning young people."

The software, called Green Dam/Youth Escort, is designed to keep web surfers from sites the government deems dangerous, adding one more brick to the Great Firewall of China.

Beijing already employs 30,000 people to police the web, who try to shape opinion by flooding popular sites with positive comments about the Chinese Communist Party. It also routinely blocks sites that mention the spiritual movement Falun Gong, the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, the Dalai Lama and other sensitive topics. On the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen protests earlier this month, the government shut down Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and other popular social media sites.

But the coming imposition of Green Dam/Youth Escort has reportedly unnerved personal computer makers operating in China, such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo.

Source : http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/commerce/090612/photos-naked-african-women-no-problem-naked-pigs-banned

Rare Look At Yucatan Rays

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KFMB meteorologist Shawn Styles reports on a rare find off the Gulf of Mexico, as a photographer was able to capture the migration of thousands of rare cow-nosed rays.

Freshwater otter plays piano

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Dua, an Asian small-clawed otter at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, plays the piano as a behind-the-scenes enrichment. This activity was created to give Dua something interesting to do and extend his feeding time, while showing off his species dexterity.

Post-it Love

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Another office romance story, but this time very inventive and charming. Good acting, too

Monk Fish

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Sitting on the keel of the HMS Ark Royal, this Monkfish let us take some close up shots about 80 miles off of Gibraltar. As the ROV draws near, notice the filament like lure, or esca, between the fish's eyes. Laying quietly, the monkfish moves the esca to attract other fish which it then swallows whole! Bottom trawling, combined with slow reproduction and high demand for its delicate flesh has caused serious decline of this interesting species.

Tarra & Bella / A Match Made in Ele-Heaven

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Tarra the elephant and Bella the dog; best friends at the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. With no human encouragement, Tarra adopted this stray dog on her own several years ago, and the two are now inseparable. Their inspiring, "odd couple" story was recently featured on CBS News and in "Bark" magazine. For more information about the Elephant Sanctuary, please visit http://www.elephants.com



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