China’s draconian measures to control the Internet often collide with its desire for global economic and technical dominanc

China now has over 160 million Internet users, making it the second largest market for Internet access globally, after the United States.

Adoption of the Internet is having a profound effect on the formation and dissemination of culture and even political ideologies since it enables access to widely different kinds of information, news coverage and debate. From the government’s perspective, some of these effects are harmful to society, which has underpinned and galvanized a long-term policy of Internet censorship.

The government continues to pursue a vision of absolute Internet censorship, in which the network is sanitized of subversive concepts, words, debates and events:

–This policy can be traced to a mandate ratified in 1997, known as “Computer Information Network and Internet Security, Protection and Management Regulations.”

–In broad terms, regulations forbid publication, replication and retrieval of information that is deemed to criticize or threaten the government and political system.

The authorities have constructed an elaborate system of surveillance, designed to block certain keywords and Web addresses:

–The “firewall” (as it is known) filters out Web sites and files linked to themes such as democracy, or banned organizations such as Falun Gong.

–The system depends on an estimated 10,000 human censors, spanning multiple divisions of government, who are employed to check Web sites, discussion boards and e-mails.

–Over time, the system has become more systematic and sophisticated.

Internet censorship is particularly crucial during sensitive political events, such as the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, when the government makes a concerted effort to expunge content that might tarnish or destabilize the official line:

–The government in August disconnected several data centers, leaving large regions without Internet access, in a reported effort to “clean up” the Internet before the National Congress opened in October.

–In some cases, interactive Web sites (such as blogs and discussion boards) were left disconnected for the duration of the Congress.

The government not only censors the Internet, but also attempts to shape available information:

–It has pressured editors of several news Web sites to write online articles that discuss and celebrate ideological and cultural aspects of Communist life.

–There have recently been reports that the government has been responsible for deliberately redirecting Internet traffic from major search engines, such as Google and Yahoo!, to centrally controlled search operator, Baidu.

–It has also launched its own portals to funnel economic and cultural information.

The architecture of censorship enables the government to identify quickly individuals responsible for producing or disseminating subversive information over the Internet. According to Amnesty International, during the past two years, Beijing has launched a massive crackdown against bloggers, editors, journalists, Webmasters and writers.

The long-term aim of Internet censorship is to create a climate of fear and surveillance in which individuals and companies are encouraged to self-regulate behavior:

–Animated police officers now appear regularly on several Web sites to remind users to avoid subversive content, and reaffirm the ubiquity of the government surveillance apparatus.

–Chinese companies are required to self-censor Web sites (for example, avoiding a list of 500 banned words) to avoid fines and retain their commercial licenses.

Despite the extent of Internet censorship, gaps remain:

–A recent study found the system is less effective when more people are online, enabling banned terms to slip through.

–Other studies have reported the erratic nature of censorship–for example, at certain times, users in particular locations are able to browse the Internet with few restrictions.

–Costs and logistical difficulties also have limited the system–the government this year was forced to abandon a plan to mandate registration of individual users on blogs because of the complexity and likely failure of enforcing registration among China’s 20 million bloggers.

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