50 Cent Army

Have you heard of the 50 cent army? In an effort to strengthen China's "Great Firewall", they have hired people to block internet pages that are inappropriate. That includes pages that aren't flattering to China's current political system. The workers get paid 50 cents for each page they block. I'm sure that you can see, as I can, the flaw in this system. If the workers want to keep their job, they must continue to block pages, whether they are inappropriate or not. And if they want a little extra money for the week, they just block a few extra. Pretty soon, China internet users will only be able to read the daily government news online, nothing else. This is one of the situations that fits the saying, "Cutting off the nose to spite the face."