The Government of the People’s Republic of China has long been censoring the information it’s citizens have access to. The introduction of the internet into China has posed a new challenge in implementing such censorship. China is an interesting example of how a government can implement large scale censorship of the internet.
On the 16th of July 2004 the Chinese Government launched a ‘People’s war’ on internet porn. The Government has made hundreds of arrests and shut-down hundreds of websites as part of the crackdown which targeted sites “involved in the production, trade and dissemination of lewd movies, still and video pictures, and arrangements of pornographic performances via chat room services.� (Xinhua, 2004).
In order to enforce it’s stringent guidelines and keep the web ‘clean’, the Government set up a massive blocking and filtration system known as the [Cultural_Imperialism_and_the_Internet_-_The_Internet_Gatekeepers_-_China | ‘Great Firewall of China’]]. The system blocks content by preventing IP addresses from being routed through its servers. It does this using standard firewalls and proxyservers at Internet gateways (Wikipedia, 2004). The system utilises keyword filtering technology to identify content and has blocked thousands of websites deemed inappropriate, making them inaccessible from Chinese connections. Government regulations have been introduced requiring Internet service providers to implement registration systems forbidding the collection of service charges from pornographic websites. Those caught violating the rules will be blacklisted by supervisory officials. Internet cafés have been requested to install software to monitor their customers and are not allowed to permit people under 18 to use their services. Hotlines and information centers have also been setup to receive complaints by the general public about online pornography.
Zittrain and Edelman (2002) conducted research into China's blocking policy, which has been inplace long before the 'war on porn'. Other than pornography, they found that the Government were blocking almost every kind of content, including pro-democracy sites, Tiawanese and Tibetan sites as well as health sites, U.S universites, science-fiction fan sites, religious and news sites. According to Shachtman (2002) Elderman was quoted to say "If it exists, China blocks at least some of it." In November 2004 Amnesty International identified 33 multinational companies such as Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and Cisco Systems that were providing the Chinese Government the with appropriate technology to achieve its censory objectives.
Nonetheless, as indicated by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_ (2004) the firewall is largley inneffective and is eaisly avoided by using proxy servers outside of China. Festa (2003) wrote that the news and propaganda wing behind the U.S. governments ‘Voice of America’ broadcasts had commissioned software to let Chinese websurfers circumvent the firewall. The software enables PC’s using Microsoft Windows XP or 2000 operating systems to circumvent or essentially dig a tunnel under the firewall, so they can gain access to uncensored news. Unsurprisingly this technology can also be used by people seeking access to pornographic and other illicit censored material.
--Chris McCosker 15:24, 27 Oct 2004 (EST)
--Chris McCosker 15:30, 26 Oct 2004 (EST)
Internet Pornography Censorship: Access
Internet Pornography Censorship: Filtering Technology
Internet Pornography Censorship: Arguments For and Against
Internet Pornography Censorship: Regulation and Responsibility
Pornography and Internet Technologies
Moral Panics and the Internet
