China Wakes Up
Napolean once said, “Let China sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world” In so many respects, China is waking up – largely due to an economy that has been booming, at 10% GDP growth or more each year for nearly a quarter century.
The internet in China is no exception. While China may have been sleeping – establishing its first internet connection in 1987, some twenty plus years after the U.S. – today, it is wide awake, boasting the largest base of internet users in the world, some 350 million, and growing at rates of nearly 20% new users each year. In 2008, it grew by nearly 80 million. Put another way, nearly 9,000 Chinese people gain their initial internet access each and every single hour. (stats)
The Start of Censorship
Sensing the potential for growth and the ability for the communication via the internet, the Chinese government became concerned and quickly moved to action, setting guidelines to limit, or censor, the internet in China. The initial regulations, passed by the State Council in 1997, were vague and noted that the internet could not be used for more than a dozen specific activities, including: “inciting division of country,” “spreading rumors,” and “injuring the reputation of state organs.”
The Great Firewall
To help enforce the regulations, the Ministry of Public Security initiated the Golden Shield Project in 1998 – an $800million plus program that resulted in what many refer to as “The Great Firewall of China” – the massive software infrastructure that enables the censorship of the internet in China. As China neared 150 million internet users in 2006, the Great Firewall powered on – and seemingly overnight, tens of thousands of internet sites became inaccessible. Most of the blocked content centered around political and news commentary, pornography, and the promotion of democracy and freedom of speech. While some sites had been blocked as early as 2000 in an ad hoc process, the Golden Shield Project signaled a new wave of censorship – smarter, stricter, and better equipped to control the fast-growing Chinese internet. Search engines became a primary target of the censorship, as they are the main portal through which users access information. By controlling and monitoring keywords that users enter, it is possible to block thousands upon thousands of results from ever being viewed. Between an estimated 30,000 “internet police”, and data mining and tracking software, the Chinese government is able to keep a solid pulse on what is happening on the internet, specifically what people are searching for and where they are finding their desired information.
Punishment
The penalty for breaking the rules in China’s internet game? Jail for many. Currently, China holds at least 48 internet users in jail, the largest amount of any country in the world. A recent incident involved Liu Shaokun, sentenced to a year in re-education camp, because he complained about infrastructure and posted pictures of a collapsed school online after an earthquake. His crime was classified as “inciting a disturbance.”
The Chinese are Super Social
Change and transformation on the internet can literally occur overnight. The average Chinese internet user, just 25 years old (compared to 42 in the U.S.), is increasingly becoming more and more social on the internet – not just using the web to find information and do tasks, but to connect with friends, and push out consumer generated content – blog articles, pictures, videos and more, to share with their online social circles. In fact, the Chinese are much more social than citizens of other countries.
China has noticed this and reacted – there has been a clear shift in focus to censoring social networking sites, services which allow the greatest possibility for the spread of information in a quick, uncontrollable manner. Wu Hao, a deputy propaganda chief in Yunan says it best – “The herd instinct on the internet is very severe,” he said. “An opinion, put online, can create a following, a magnifying effect.” China has reason to be scared – the last time millions of young people connected in a common cause, the Tiananmen Square protests and violence erupted. In fact, last year, upon the 20th anniversary of the protests, China cut off access to popular sites Flickr, Hotmail, and Twitter, and also ordered hundreds of Chinese portal sites to be suspended and post a message reading:
“In order to improve the internet content and provide a healthy environment for our netizens, we have designated 3 to June 6 as the national server maintenance day. This move is widely supported by the public.”
Western Web Reacts
Some internet companies have agreed to play along, and build censors into their services in China – signaling they would rather change their offering than lose out the potential to reach the largest internet market in the world. Myspace, in 2007, launched their Chinese version – complete with filters against content regarding Taiwanese independence, The Dali Lama, and other topics deemed inappropriate. Overall, however, reactions and resistance to the censorship of the internet has slowly become louder in recent years, led by Western internet companies frustrated with their services being inaccessible to the largest internet market in the world. Google made the ultimate move earlier this year, defying censorship regulations and drastically shifting their operations in China.
Reaction to Green Damn
In May last year, The Ministry of Industry and Information announced their next weapon against the internet – The Green Dam Youth Escort. The program requires all PC manufacturers to have pre-installed software on all machines shipped for sale in China. Defending the program, Qin Hang of the foreign ministry, said the software was needed, “to build a healthy and harmonious online environment that does not poison young people’s minds.” The program blocks information via banned keywords and phrases, and uses skin color and facial recognition techniques in an effort to block restricted images. As the proposed program leaked out, reaction worldwide was resoundingly negative. The U.S. Embassy released a statement saying, “The U.S. is concerned about actions that seek to restrict access to the Internet as well as restrictions on the internationally recognized right to freedom of expression.” Jonathan Zittrain, of Harvard’s Berkman Center expressed his concern, saying: “Once you’ve got government-mandated software installed on each machine, the software has the keys to the kingdom…” Closer to home, a poll run on Sina.com, one of the largest Chinese internet portals, revealed that over 80% of respondents had no desire to use the Green Dam program. Computer manufacturers have struggled to decide whether to fight the mandate, or to give in and keep good relations with the world’s largest electronic goods market. Microsoft has noted that appropriate parental control tools are “an important societal consideration”. However, “in this case, we agree with others in industry and around the world that important issues such as freedom of expression, privacy, system reliability and security need to be properly addressed.”
The Future
A recent saying, “I’d much rather weep in a BMW than laugh on a bicycle,” sums up the mindset of so many Chinese at this point – choosing newfound economic prosperity over unrestricted rights. However slowly, signs of resistance have popped up — the reaction to Green Damn being one example.
China is clearly at a critical point – charging forward in an effort to extend The Great Firewall, yet met by the fast-moving and intelligent crowd of 300 million plus web surfers who wish to have freedom to move about the web in an easy, unrestricted manner.
