China to Top U.S. in Broadband Subscribers 530
An anonymous reader writes "China already is rapidly approaching the United States as the country with the largest number of broadband subscribers, according to the El Segundo, Calif.-based firm, and by the end of the year, China is expected to have 34 million subscribers, compared to 39 million in the United States. By the end of 2007, China is expected to have 57 million broadband subscribers, compared to 54 million in the United States, with an even wider lead in the years to follow."
Re:chinese democracy (Score:1, Interesting)
What good is broadband if it's censored? (Score:1, Interesting)
Imagine if we all had personal Gigabit connections directly to the Internet backbone but...the RIAA controlled what sites you could visit. Alternatively, consider this: imagine having that personal Gigabit connection, but you have to subscribe to AOL (with all its...quirks). You can't use any other content provider.
Basically, what China has is a monopoly on information. What good is broadband if you can't even choose what you want to look at?
Even Canada is higher.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:i would hope so (Score:2, Interesting)
It's well-documented there are watchers in chat rooms who redact material real-time which is "against policy", some horrendous filters which screen practically everything but spam, and I'll bet the only address they're allowed to connect to with FTP is 127.0.0.1.
Sheer numbers and population percentages mean nothing when there's nothing to look at. Trust me: the Chinese will have a better chance at seeing CineMax sans filtering at midnight before they get an unfiltered connection to the Internet.
Dishnet aims for India-wide WiFi coverage in 2 yrs (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=tec
Chinese economic growth (Score:2, Interesting)
The essence of a comparison is that while the US has proved a hegemonic economic superpower for half a century, a late starter such as China (with a small GDP per capita nowadays, compared to the US, and one which was even smaller 10 years ago) is still able to outstrip the number of broadband connections (clearly indicia of technological advancement and economic modernity).
In one sense, people here are decrying this report as comparing apples and oranges (gross number of connections as opposed to percentages), while simultaneously expounding a similar methodology (comparing countries with gross disparities between GDP and economic histories).
Just something to keep in mind.
Re:chinese democracy (Score:1, Interesting)
China has come a long way toward democracy lately. You sure can't compare them to North Korea. Moving to quickly can create instabilities. So as long as they are going in the right direction this is a good thing.
As far as the US being superior to China, that is somewhat debatable because it has its own problems in the form of powerful oligarchies which run big business and government.
The US is not a democracy. If it was then it would be 'one person/one vote' NOT 'one dollar/one vote' as it currently tends to be.
Most of Europe and Canada offer much better models for democracy then the US.
Oh snap. I just fucking smoked your comment out of the water. Time for my victor lap.
Only in your mind
Re:chinese democracy (Score:2, Interesting)
Gee, I wonder, is this the democracy that we call a "catastropic success" [politicalwire.com], oh, say that Iraq [comedycentral.com] is having right now? Or maybe you're talking about the our wonderfully successful policy of spreading democracy [socialaffairsunit.org.uk] that doesn't work? I'm sure China would love to get some of that action...
Will be Buried in their own Toxic Waste (Score:1, Interesting)
In the countryside manufacturing is poisoning entire regions (we're talking millions of square miles here) because there are no environmental laws and the local governments are utterly and completely corrupt and in the hands of industrialists. Thousands of people are dying of chemically-induced cancer and chemical poisoning. But the Chinese government attitude is that the fewer people the better.
In 10 years China will be like East Germany is today - buried in pollution and toxic waste. While it may take Germany another 30 years to recover, China may never do so. The reason is that by then a war will have started and the fecal matter will really impinge upon the rotating impeller device.
The relationship between government and industry in China is simple fascism - just like Germany before World War II.
Communism at work.. (Score:3, Interesting)
I mean, I've heard Cuba touted as having the 'best' healthcare system in the world (honestly!)... , but I don't think you'd have easy access to a CAT scan unless your name was Fidel. It might be the most 'even' perhaps in that almost everyone has the same lack of access.
Any bandwidth figures?
Not that simple. (Score:5, Interesting)
In 1955, most people wouldn't have had any notion what "Broadband Internet Access" was. But if you could make them understand that it was a key technology of the 21st century, and that it would be more available in China than in the U.S....
An American would have reported you to the FBI for spreading commie propaganda. And a Chinese would have shaken his head at your obvious dementia. The U.S. has lost its edge, and this is another sign of it.
Re:1.1 Billion vs 280 Million (Score:2, Interesting)
Are you for real? The worldwide annual military expenditures is ~$900 billion. The US portion of that is 1/2. That's right - one half of the world's militarism is the US. China is barely a blip, and is generally equipped with Russian cast-offs and cheap knock-offs.
Perhaps you're confused by the fact that China has the largest standing army - when you are dominated from the air and sea, that's what they call "cannon fodder". It's an absolutely irrelevant number, and really just represents how big of a casualty count you can rack up.
I'm not trying to piss on China - it is going to be great nation in coming years, and will definitely achieve the influence it deserves - but you clearly are so blinded by your anti-US rhetoric that you totally fell off the clue boat.
Uhhh....Missing Something? (Score:2, Interesting)
Too bad it already is. What the hell is the FCC thinking?
Re:1.1 Billion vs 280 Million (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:i would hope so (Score:1, Interesting)
But their GDP is $7.262 trillion [cia.gov], quite lower than the GDP in the US which is $11.75 trillion [cia.gov].
That's why it's worth a story!
Their GDP per capita is much lower than ours, however, they manage to have more highspeed internet access than us.
Use your brain, for once, for chriiss sake.
Re:So? (Score:2, Interesting)
a lot of character (Score:2, Interesting)
Of course the webs content would only increase and diversify, not change into chinese, so I don't think there will be THAT kind of problems. But I wouldn't wonder if all the pop-ups and the ads in slashdot would one day be full of characters that are alien to me advertising something I could only guess at.
Re:The posts here are pretty biased. (Score:1, Interesting)
Proof?
People in China in general are more worried about their lifestyle than politics or the right to protest the government.
The political dissent and protests would argue otherwise.
In fact, in some cases, the absence of political discussion in China is a positive since they don't have to hear about partisan bickering like the United States.
Whatever you say, Adolf.
Who the fuck are you.. the Chinese Information Minister? I've never seen such load of garbage.
BTW, I am a Chinese American. My father fleed China, you have some fucking gall to sit here and try to put a false spin on the totally tyrannical conditions China is in right now.
Re:So? (Score:4, Interesting)
Instead of giving the money back, I'd appreciate it if the red states would spend some of it on their educational systems. The US going to need a better educated workforce if we're going to stay competitive. That, or keep recruiting the top foreign talent in place of the brains we're not willing to train at home.
Continuing the discussion of the disconnect between red state political ideals and realities. Guess which ten states have the highest bankruptcy rates? Utah, Tennessee, Nevada, Georgia, Indiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio, Mississippi and Idaho - all red states. Nice, huh? What an incredible demonstration of fiscal responsibility and self reliance! Still, I like that your representatives are willing to put the screws to you with the change in bankrupcy laws they are trying to enact.
Once red staters stop drinking the Kool-Aid and realize that they were never as self-reliant as they think they are, and that the Republican elite DON'T have their best economic interests at heart, they're going to switch. It might kill them to join up with gay-loving baby killers, but they'll do it anyway when they can't feed their families. And they'll be begging for those safety nets that are being slowly stripped away.
Don't worry. We blue staters are an understanding and tolerant lot. Comes with the territory, so to speak. *grynn* You'll be welcome back into the mainstream fold.