The question sounds ridiculous on the surface, but whether it’s the Great Firewall, the massive surveillance of users of instant-messaging service TOM-Skype, or now, this, China’s “Green Dam” Censorware Could Spawn a Zombie Network, China is capable of taking actions that have a big effect on the Internet. For example, wWhat would  happen if hackers started exploiting poorly written software installed on millions of Chinese computers (e.g. like Green Dam) on a regular basis?  Could it get so bad that the owners of the world’s biggest routers got together and decided to cut Chinese IP addresses from their routing tables, essentially dropping it from the Internet, in order to curtail the threat? That’s an extreme scenario, although not an impossible one.

In the end I suspect there will be some changes made to the Green Dam program. And while it will limit Chinese citizens, there will also be limits and work arounds found for it, just like there is for the Great Firewall (and likely the Skype software too).

In some ways Chinese restrictions are going to spur innovation on the Internet. The constraints they impose will lead to creativity. Perhaps instead of destroying the Internet, China will — intentionally or not — make it stronger.

(Photo is from jblyberg’s photostream on flickr.com).

As this Globe and Mail article explains, Glenora Distillers from Cape Breton (David) has won a big victory and is celebrating the end of a nine-year name battle against the Scotch Whisky Association (Goliath). Why? For using the word “Glen” in its product.  Really. Never mind it has “Canada” right on the label (see the picture). And never mind that Cape Breton is very rich in Scotch heritage. In fact, when I first heard of Glen Breton, I thought: about time!

So if you want to celebrate a big victory for the underdog and enjoy a glass of truly fine single malt at the same time, pick up a bottle of Glen Breton. Better still, go to Cape Breton and get it directly. You’ll be glad you did.