THE GREAT FIREWALL OF CHINA.

Authors:
Einhorn, BruceElgin, Ben

Source:
Business Week; 1/23/2006 Issue 3968, p32-34, 3p, 2c

"Getting a phone call from the government is one part of the picture. What few Westerners know is the size and scope of China's censorship machine and the process by which multinationals, however reluctantly, censor themselves. Few also know that China's censors have kept up with changing technologies, from cell phone text messaging to blogs." (para 3)

"The agencies that watch over the Net employ more than 30,000 people to prowl Web sites, blogs, and chat rooms on the lookout for offensive content as well as scammers. In the U.S., by contrast, the entire CIA employs an estimated 16,000 people." (para 4)

"This group, which has included Yahoo but not Google, are pressured to sign the government's "Public Pledge on Self-Discipline for the Chinese Internet Industry," the U.S. State Dept. says. Under the agreement, they promise not to disseminate information that "breaks laws or spreads superstition or obscenity," or that "may jeopardize state security and disrupt social stability." Translation: "If you own something, you're responsible for what's there," says Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher for Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong. That leads companies to "err on the side of caution and self-censorship."" (para 6)

"For those who can't see the characters on the wall, Beijing has plenty of backup. All Internet traffic entering or leaving China must pass through government-controlled gateways -- that is, banks of computers -- where e-mail and Web-site requests are monitored. E-mail with offending words such as "Taiwan independence" or "democracy" can be pulled aside and trashed. And when a mainland user tries to open a page that's blacklisted, the gateway will simply deny access. Search for "Tiananmen Massacre" in China, for example, and 90 of the top 100 sites that mention it are blocked, according to the OpenNet Initiative, an Internet watchdog group. The Net operators' response? "We are trying to provide as much information as possible," says Robin Li, chairman of Baidu.com Inc., China's top search engine. "But we need to obey Chinese law."" (para 7)

"Thought Police
China has the world's most sophisticated system for monitoring the Net. It can block sites and e-mail messages that criticize Beijing's policies on Tibet, the Falun Gong movement, or human rights. Here's how it works:
CHOKE POINTS All Net traffic in China has to pass through a handful of gateways where censors can check what's coming in and out. These block access to sensitive sites including CNN, the BBC, and Amnesty International.
SENSITIVE SEARCH Filters catch terms such as "democracy" or "dissident," and the results omit pages Beijing doesn't like. While censors do some of this, search engines also screen results to show only acceptable sites.
BLOCKED BLOGS Net companies keep bloggers and chat rooms within certain bounds. The government provides blog-hosting companies with banned words but lets them decide how to enforce the rules. Experts say this leads to greater censorship.
ANONYMITY, NOT Internet cafes, where many Chinese go online, must use software that stores data on each user. Similarly, bloggers must register with authorities, making it risky to write about off-limits subjects.
PEOPLE POWER China employs at least 30,000 Net cops who monitor Web sites and scour the fast-evolving Internet landscape to ferret out politically sensitive content as well as pornography and various scams.
TEXT TROUBLE In 2004 hackers discovered a list of 987 words that are blocked in the popular QQ instant-messaging program. The authorities also required phone companies to install filtering software to block offensive text messages."



Good source. Very helpful.