Why should the Chinese government shouldn't worry about protests during the Olympic torch run. Local media would much rather cover low-effort displays closer to home, like these activists scaling the Golden Gate Bridge. KPIX has live coverage. [CBS 5]

What did scary media tyrant Rupert Murdoch say at Georgetown today? Allow us to sum up:

Who says there's no such thing as karma? A couple of years ago, Yahoo and its cofounder Jerry Yang did the Chinese government a big favor. Something about putting mouthy writers in jail. And now, the New York Times reports, a law that goes into effect this August will make the Chinese government Yang's best hope for fending off Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

After China's Internet censors blocked access to YouTube because of clips depicting riots in Tibet, Google immediately began work to restore access to the online-video site in the country. But news stories regarding the Tibet protest remain censored from Google News China, Blogoscoped's Phillip Lenssen reports. Below, screenshots from Google News Hong Kong, which features the Tibet protests, and Google News China, which does not.

Is switching off the Internet for 1.3 billion people the ultimate demonstration of power since the Atomic Age? The Chinese government has blocked YouTube across the country since this weekend. The censorship campaign is blocking reporters (both foreign and domestic) from covering the story and blocking Chinese residents from hearing about it, apparently trying to kill the story at both ends. Below are the videos that allegedly made the government ban YouTube.

China, the land where the human body is illegal, is threatening to ban a perfectly innocuous ad campaign by Pond's because it stars Tang Wei, the lead actress in Ang Lee's recent flick "Lust, Caution." The Chinese government feels that Tang Wei's sexy nude scenes in the film render her unfit for advertising. Heaven forbid the people of China be influenced in their skin cream purchasing decisions by a fellow citizen who was once naked—China got its population of 1.3 billion strictly through asexual reproduction. More than a week after the initial blacklisting of the actress, the fate of the ad campaign is still unclear [Ad Age]. After the jump, one of the Tang Wei ads, and the trailer for "Lust, Caution." Watch for yourself and be corrupted.

The Chinese government blocked citizen access to YouTube today, after foreign news bureaus uploaded videos to the site depicting violent protests in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. It's easy enough for the Chinese to get around the government's firewall — using a proxy server or a virtual private network would do the trick — but that's enough of a nuisance that China's firewall works anyway. Who wants to kill a lazy afternoon hunting around the Internet for ways to learn about the evils of their government? Kill your bliss with the clip below.

The Chinese government is now banning foreign cartoons from its airwaves for four hours a day. Between 5pm and 9pm, only domestic cartoons can be shown. No word yet on what the US Gymnastics team will do every day in Beijing this summer during the hours they are banned. [Variety]

James Fallows's epic 4,221-word article on the Great Firewall of China in The Atlantic breaks with geek convention. When writing about China's technological efforts to block undesirable Web content, we're supposed to conclude that censorship is damage, and the Internet will route around it. (Wired did so last October.) Fallows instead concludes that all the Chinese authorities have to do is make finding unlawful content on the Internet slightly annoying. The masses of people with more interesting things to do than configure proxy servers will comply. But what we really like is how The Atlantic pitched this story to us: Fallows's work isn't a provocative thinkpiece on the nature of censorship in the age of the Internet, it's service journalism! Who cares about the Chinese people — you just want to know if the Internet will work when you travel to Beijing for the Olympics. Forthwith, the PR person's suggested questions, and answers extracted from Fallows piece:

Microsoft's Yahoo bid is not the only one in trouble. The $2.2 billion offer for 3Com made by the private-equity firm Bain Capital and Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies is no longer on the table. The company has been unable to work out a compromise with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a federal panel which has the authority to recommend the White House block or alter terms of deals that involve national security. [AP]

China Mobile, the No. 1 cell company in China, claims there are 400,000 unlocked iPhones running on its network. That's more than 10 percent of the 3.7 million Steve Jobs announced Apple had shipped through mid-January. A very impressive stat to be sure, but why did China Mobile release it now? Apple and China Mobile have been in negotiations for a while about bringing the iPhone to China. The talks had reached an impasse over how much of a kickback Apple would receive on subscriber fees.

Last year, China shuttered 44,000 websites and arrested 868 people as part of its campaign against Internet porn. The government employs tens of thousands to discover and censor such sites. Skeptical human rights groups call the project an effort to crack down on political dissidents ahead of the 2008 Olympics. The rest of us wonder: The Chinese government thinks it can shut down porn? [Sydney Morning Herald]

Apple and China's largest mobile provider China Mobile have called off discussions for now. No. 2 carrier China Unicom, with one-third the customers of China Mobile, will be next in line for Apple talks. As a smaller company, the thinking goes, China Unicom will have more to gain from the iPhone and thus be more willing to bend to Apple's financial and technical requirements. China Mobile recently agreed to become the Chinese distributor for RIM's BlackBerry. [The Motley Fool]

China has upped the ante on censorship, moving beyond the Great Firewall of China to mandate that all Internet video sites must be state-owned. Websites would then be required to follow the same censorship rules as television broadcasters and newspapers, which are already operated, and strictly regulated, by the state. The move is aimed at clearing up technical difficulties in regulating video on the Internet, an area that the Chinese government has sought to control but has been less effective at censoring than the standard Internet. However, plenty of ambiguities remain.

The Bush administration is facing criticism over its decision to allow sales of certain high-tech equipment to China. Some experts think the products could help China modernize its military or share knowledge with Iran and Syria. Among the exports now allowed: telecommunications equipment, a key sector for the Valley. [NYT]

Chen Yuhua has taken the Chinese government to court over its removal of a Web post critical of the government's restrictions on dogs over 14 inches tall. The dog owner says he followed the letter of the law in his rare challenge to his country's Internet-censorship regime. [Washington Post]

"Morgan Stanley announced more than $9 billion in subprime losses for the fourth quarter. The investment firm all told lost $3.6 billion, or $3.61 a share, which was well beyond expectations for a loss of 39 cents a share. The company also announced that it will get a $5 billion cash infusion from government-controlled China Investment Corp. Calling the quarter 'deeply disappointing,' Chief Executive John Mack said he will not take a bonus this year."

British spy agency MI5 has warned financial and legal institutions of a security threat from state-sponsored Chinese hackers. The Chinese government, of course, has denied any involvement. [The Register]

While Facebook goes around denying rumors about deals in China, IAC chairman Barry Diller is telling anybody who will listen about his plans for Asian expansion. Diller told reporters this morning that IAC will spend $100 million in China, and bring over its Ask.com search engine, too. This will raise IAC's Chinese investments to $300 million. (Photo by AP/Elaine Thompson)