Tifani Wiyanto
29 October 2004
Student number: 4846567
Email to: t.wiyanto@student.qut.edu.au
As an unregulated body, Internet content may become a concern to some countries, especially Asian countries such as China. Media democratisation which is centred mainly in the West has led the Chinese government to prevent what are called as “media imperialism�, “electronic colonialism�, and “peaceful evolution� to happen (Qiu, 2000, p. 1). Despite the famous Great Wall of China, in the mid 1900s, the Chinese government had a new wall, an electronic one, known as the Great Firewall of China.
== The Internet in China ==
In 1995, the Chinese Ministry of Post and Telecommunication established ChinaNet, the country’s first Internet Service Provider (ISP) (Cullen and Choy, 1999). A year after the Internet became publicly available in China, the Internet users increased from 81,000 to 670,000 and by the late 1999, it jumped to 7 million (Collings, 2001). With this rapid increase, China has now become the second largest online user in the world (Internet World Stats, 2004) and it is estimated that before 2020, China will have the largest online population over other countries (Cullen and Choy, 1999). Based on these facts, therefore, the Chinese government attempts to protect the country’s future leaders and one of its ways is by regulating the Internet.
== The Great Firewall of China ==
The system, which works based on similar purpose as the Great Wall of China, blocks undesirable Web-content by “preventing IP addresses from being routed through and consists of standard firewall and proxy servers at the Internet gateway� (Wikipedia, 2004). All the Internet subscribers need to provide information to the government about themselves, sign a pledge, and all their international telephone connections were controlled by the government (Collings, 2001, p. 187). The great Firewall of China thus aims to “filter out anything deemed harmful, primarily
pornography and pro-democracy material� (ibid).
Probably, China is one of only a few countries who ban and block many foreign websites to be accessed by the users. Not only porn sites, but New York Times, CNN, Reuters, Wikipedia, and even Google were also among numerous websites that used to be blocked by the Great Firewall (Cullen and Choy, 1999; Wikipedia, 2004). This may happen due to sensitive political information or information that threatens China’s security is available in those websites [See Moral Panics and the Internet - Censorship]. Another action of the system was to censor some of the Internet content, particularly which are related to political information, by putting a white space as a replacement (Wikipedia, 2004). In addition, internal staffs (known as ‘Big Mama’) were employed to physically remove websites which contain undesirable material (ibid).
== The Impacts ==
Nevertheless, the decentralised nature of the Internet has made this virtual world remain ungoverned and thus it is perhaps difficult for the Chinese government to totally regulate the Internet content. As one of the consequences, Chinese people strive for ‘pure’, uncensored information. Such examples were the cases of VIP Reference and Tunnel, uncensored newsletters sent out through unsolicited emails or SPAM by local people (Collings, 2001, p. 190-191). The Chinese government’s challenge in promoting e-commerce law also appears to be increasingly unsolved due to the development of technology. For instance, cases dealing with pornography. The US Research and Publication director, Will Zhang (quoted by Subler, 2004) explains, “The government can arrest people, block websites and censor Web searches, but it doesn’t have advanced enough technical methods to effectively censor online porn in China.�
== References ==
Collings, A. (2001) Words of Fire: Independent Journalists Who Challenge Dictators, Druglords, and Other Enemies of a Free Press, New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-1605-9
Cullen, R. and Choy, P. D. W (1999) "The Internet in China," retrieved October 28, 2004, from www2.austlii.edu.au
Internet World Stats (2004) "Top Ten Countries with Highest Number of Internet Users�retrieved October 15, 2004, from www.internetworldstats.com
Qiu, J. L. (2000) "Virtual Censorship in China: Keeping the Gate between the Cyberspaces," International Journal of Communication Law and Policy, no. 4, retrieved October 28, 2004, from www.ijlp.org
Subler, J. (2004, Sept 26) "China Wages War on Online Porn," The Atlanta Journal - Constitution, retrieved October 28, 2004, from Proquest Online Database
Wikipedia (2004) “Internet Censorship in China,� retrieved October 28, 2004, from www.wikipedia.org
== Other Topics on Cultural Imperialism and the Internet ==
The Internet Gatekeepers
Cultural Globalisation
American Domination on the Internet
Online Advertising
== Related Links ==
Tifani Wiyanto 07:33, 29 Oct 2004 (EST)
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