March 18, 2008 3:27 PM PDT
Top Chinese university weighs a ban on swearing online
Beijing University, one of China's top academic institutions, is considering a rule to ban its students form using obscenity or spreading rumors online, Xinhua reports. Rules may also affect faculty.
It's not clear if the enforcement would include any online speech by students or if it would be limited to university forums.
News of the possible regulations comes a few months after a popular student bulletin board--a physical board, not the campus BBS--was taken down by university authorities. Xinhua writes:
The university, concerned about abusive comments and rumors on Internet forums, is considering amending its "Student Rules," which students in the university are supposed to take as moral guidance and abide by, President Xu Zhihong has told the Beijing Morning Post.
[via CDT]
Formerly a journalist and consultant in Beijing, Graham Webster is a graduate student studying East Asia at Harvard University. At Sinobyte, he follows the effects of technology on Chinese politics, the environment, and global affairs. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. 
- by appledogx--2008 March 18, 2008 6:49 PM PDT
- Moral guidance from a totalitarian state? Sounds like they need more of a free exchange of ideas than more control by the benevolent state. When governments concentrate on controlling every aspect of life, they become a hinderance to the society they "serve". Civility? Yes, we need more of it everywhere, but not by force.
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