Baidu bods arrested after deleting posts for dosh

Chinese web giant Baidu has been forced to sack four employees, three of whom were arrested by local police on suspicion of accepting bribes in return for deleting user-generated posts on one of the firm's sites. Baidu PR officer Li Guoxun told Global Times that police got involved in the case due to the large sums of money …

[jake]

I wonder if my mute "thumbs down" fanboi ...

Is hoping to make a similar profit ;-)

[Oliver Mayes]

"close the loopholes by strengthening management"

Doesn't matter where you are in the world, corporate problems can always be solved by hiring more managers.

[Anonymous Coward]

I love

how any post on chinas web always includes a little nip at how they're big bad an evil because they sensor the net. How every government says the same thing (uk and usa main examples)

And yet at the same time the UK is pushing for web censorship, as is the USA, while still saying that chinas censorship is evil.

Government has become synonimous with hypocrit.

[Bumpy Cat]

Re: I love

Can you say "fuck" on the internet? Can you do a google search for Jean Charles de Menezes, and how the Met managed to gun down an innocent man?

Congratulations, you're freer than the average Chinese citizen.

Certainly the UK and US governments are not entirely innocent, but there is a great deal more internet freedom here than in China. Look up "grass-mud horse" or "river crabs" for some interesting information on how pervasive internet censorship is in China, and the ways that people bypass it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I love

"...Can you say "fuck" on the internet?..."

Yes, but possibly not by text message:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/03/text_talk_legal_status/

[cortland]

Re: I love

You can sensor a censer, but I wonder how you sensor a net. Or is that censored?

[frank ly]

It's heartwarmimg ......

to see them embrace free-market capitalism. A need/desire arises - someone steps up to offer a service to deal with it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Does anyone else

see the irony here?

[amanfromearth]

Re: Does anyone else

No mate, we're all a bit thick.

[Alan Brown]

Not just Baidu

There's an outfit named "Reputation.com" which has been offering fixup services for a while.

Very recently they were sponsoring BBC World distribution in the USA (30 second spot every 30 minutes).

[Jop]

Not ok for the little people

This is no different than large corporations lobbying governments with lots of money to censor what they do not like, either by way of changing the law or getting the police to remove it by claiming it is harrasment.

[Anonymous Coward]

Baidu has fired the four

In China, that means with a gun, doesn't it?

[Eduard Coli]

Wot? again

Baidu is an extension of the PRC so what is the story other than the usual PRC corruption.

[cortland]

What's "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" in Chinese?

[jake]

@cortland

Not certain ... but the concept is probably a shooting offense in that neck of the woods.