Email to Mr. Tor Odland, Communications Director at Opera
Dear Mr. Odland,
when I tried to access the free world through Opera Mini this morning, all I got was a message that I should “upgrade” to the Chinese version of Opera Mini which would offer me “better speed”. We both know what is really behind this move and honestly I am disgusted and shocked! And I’m also embarrassed to be European. To me, Opera was always the other, better voice. Fair and not driven by greed and self-serving reasons.
This has all changed overnight. Apparently Opera is not much different from the rest of the pack and why not cave in to Chinese oppression when so many others have done the same thing already, right?!
You should monitor the Internet and the Twitterverse closely in the coming days and weeks to see the damage you have done to your own company and to everyone believing in a free world.
Shame!
Sven Muentel
More info on this topic on Carsten Ullrich’s Blog!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Matthew Stinson, Simon @ IIlluminant. Simon @ IIlluminant said: Submono's Sublog on Opera caving to the Chinese censors http://ow.ly/EfZF @submono #GFW #harmonious [...]
I just noticed this when trying to access Dabr on my mobile. If Opera forced upgrades to cooperate with the Chinese government their brand deserves to die a slow death. If this is an oversight on their part I hope they correct it quickly.
Shame on Opera, I am going to delete all OPM4.2 & 5 on
my cellphone now.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by illuminantceo: Submono’s Sublog on Opera caving to the Chinese censors http://ow.ly/EfZF @submono #GFW #harmonious…
Will twfcc stop using Google, Microsoft and Yahoo as well, since they were forced to block sites too?
Could submono explain what the alternative would be for Opera?