Our side of the wall

We require many different types of software to function in the business world and some of the most important tools are found online. Dropbox, Google, Hootsuite, Instagram, Facebook Messenger are a few that I took for granted when I travelled across the Great Firewall this week.
I was prepared for these to be blocked once I entered Mainland territory, but I was not ready for the deep analysis the Firewall would conduct on all the sites I visited. Even with the fastest wifi, the Macau Business website took several minutes to load.
The painstaking process of accessing websites and software services online in the Mainland made me so grateful for the virtual Internet freedom we experience in Macau. If you travel to the Mainland frequently for business you may already know the myriad sites that are blocked; but for those who do not, take my word for it, open a Yahoo email account, forward all necessary communication streams, and load all important documents onto your devices or an external hard drive.
In an ironic twist of fate; however, the firewall that blocks so many sites is now investigating a few of its approved social media giants this week. Tencent, Baidu and Sina are under deep scrutiny by China’s Cyberspace Administration after allegedly failing to regulate content such as pornographic, violent, extremist, or fake posts on their online sites.
Across the world, social media companies are under fire and must tighten control of their content whether they are within the Great Firewall limits or in the outside world.
It’s becoming clearer daily that people around the world do not want to experience negative content and some are demanding censorship. In China, where so much content is already censored, I find it so interesting that undesirable content is getting through the wall while inoffensive software sites continue to be blocked.
Macau, the new smart city, is on the horizon as Alibaba Cloud begins its preparations. Through Big Data analysis, Alibaba and the Macau Government are expected to improve the city’s transportation, tourism, healthcare, talent development and governance. Since we can use all major social media and software companies in Macau, there will be infinite opportunities to glean information from locals and tourists.
While we are still a Special Administrative Region of China, we should all take a moment to appreciate that we do not have to face the firewall hurdles that people do on the Mainland. Our businesses can openly thrive and flourish via all media and sites without major censorship.
We are, indeed, lucky.