Internet censorship in China increasingly draconian
By Leah McBride Mensching, Wednesday 10 October 2007 at 22:13 :: Press Freedom & Laws :: #681 :: rss
Internet censorship in China is becoming increasingly tight, according to a Chinese IT expert and the international journalism watchdog group Reporters Sans Frontieres.
In partnership with RSF and Chinese Human Rights Defenders, an anonymous author, who is a technician working inside a Chinese web company, has written a report detailing the expansion of China's official system of online censorship, surveillance and propaganda.
“Journey to the Heart of Internet Censorship,” explains how the Chinese Communist Party “and the government have deployed colossal human and financial resources to obstruct online free expression. Chinese news Web sites and blogs have been brought under the editorial control of the propaganda apparatus at both the national and local levels,” RSF said in a statement.
And although China has more than 160 million Internet users and at least 1.3 million Web sites, there is very little room for free expression, RSF reported.
“The government monitors the Internet by means of a skillful mix of filtering technologies, cyber-police surveillance and propaganda, in all of which China invests massively,” writes the technician, referred to only as “Mr Tao,” according to a report in the Guardian. “Draconian censorship hunts down anything to do with human rights, democracy and freedom of belief. It nips free expression in the bud.”
The report stated that Internet censorship has grown as the power of the Beijing Internet Information Administrative Bureau has increased. The system to control the Internet in China also includes the Internet Propaganda Administrative Bureau (part of the Information Office of the State Council in the executive office of the government), the Bureau of Information and Public Opinion (part of the party's Publicity Department, formerly called the Propaganda Department) and the Internet Bureau (another arm of the Publicity Department).
“Either on their own initiative or on orders from above, the (Beijing) bureau's members remind Web sites of the importance of political and social stability in China as soon as a story grabs the attention of the online media or public opinion. They ask the Web sites to remove the story, or move it to a less prominent position, put a stop to comments and to hide or suppress any new developments in the story, or to post an article written by the bureau.
“The ones that are not registered in Beijing are not subject to as much pressure. Tengxun, for example, which has China's biggest portal and the instant messaging service QQ, is based in Shenzhen and, as a result, enjoys more freedom.”
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