It's up to citizens to save US

Former CIA agent and US National Security Agency operative Edward Snowden's expose of Washington's Internet surveillance program is getting on the nerves of the US government. But the scandal reveals the US government's hypocritical policies and the double standards it adopts when it comes to cyber security, democracy and human rights, says an article on gmw.cn. Excerpts:

The US government has accused the Chinese military of encroaching on American cyberspace and hacking into its intelligence network. It's an irony that the US government is trying to play the victim despite possessing the most powerful information technology network in the world.

The fact is that the US not only uses military might to further its foreign policies, but also tampers with its own taxpayers' data.

Apart from the PRISM project, which Snowden exposed, other US spying programs of the US government may remain undetected and undisclosed. And American citizens, who supposedly enjoy the right to privacy, may remain under constant surveillance, which is a far cry from the avowed US principle of giving the public the final say.

Recently, the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the most influential NGOs, sued the US federal government for running the surveillance program which infringes on individuals' rights and privacy. Internet giants such as Microsoft, Facebook, Apple and Yahoo, too, have been implicated in the surveillance scandal.

The response of the American public and media to the surveillance program is a test for the country's democracy. Spying projects like PRISM violate individuals' privacy and freedom of expression. The US is standing at a crossroads, and only the American people can save it from becoming a police state.

Women's photos on sites welcome

After the national college entrance exam, when students try to get admitted to a college, some universities adopted novel methods to attract admission seekers. For example, the Renmin University of China has posted the photograph of an attractive young woman graduate. Although the huge number of hits the website generated caused it to crash, posting stunning portraits on a homepage is a creative way of attracting admission seekers, says an article on xinhuanet.com. Excerpts:

Some netizens have criticized the tricks used by some universities to attract admission seekers, saying the posting of beautiful women's photographs on their websites is an attempt to "seduce" students, which goes against the spirit of education.

But there is nothing wrong in posting photographs of beautiful students on universities' websites. In the past, Chinese universities had a rigid, stereotype habit of posting photographs of landscapes or students' good wishes on their homepages. So the change in their practice should be welcome.

Despite the criticism of some netizens, no student will choose a university on the basis of the photograph of a stunning beauty on its website. Students today are well informed about the quality of universities' faculties, environment and curricula, and their decisions are based on them.

The use of stunning women's or men's photographs on universities' homepages is just to attract more hits on the websites and not to dupe students, because students interested in finding more information know where and how to get them.

Admittedly, admitting promising students may be a good start for a university. But in the end, it has to provide a sound environment for students to gather knowledge and succeed in life to meet their demands.

(China Daily USA07/04/2013 page12)