Blog Insights: The Chinese Internet: No happiness

by Dan Blacharski

November 20, 2006 —

What bloggers are saying about the latest in information technology

I've lived and traveled all over Asia, and love it -- there's nothing quite like strolling by the street vendors peddling fried beetles and chicken heads. In countries like Thailand, where there is relatively more freedom than some other Asian countries, I marveled at the stark contrast of seeing a vendor in her big straw hat selling live fish right outside of a flourishing and modern Internet cafe.

Over the weekend, Reporters Without Borders reported that Chinese Internet users could no longer connect to the Chinese or English versions of Wikipedia. There's been some back and forth in China around Wikipedia (as well as several other online sites), with China re-opening the English Wikipedia on October 10, and the Chinese version in the middle of November. Has there been a change of heart again by the powers that be? It would seem so, and today, if a Chinese citizen wants to know about the history of American Thanksgiving, what was the longest novel in English ever published, or to read about British game show host Richard Dawson or some other such trivia, they'll have to go elsewhere.

China and other authoritarian countries continue to provide their citizens with their own very limited versions of the Internet. One of the most sophisticated blocking systems is in China, and the country has spent significant amounts of money -- most of it with American companies -- to make sure that its citizens are not allowed to see content on a very large blacklist of sites. A Chinese blog that discusses something the government considers dangerous or subversive, such as a call for free elections, or a discussion about the Tiananmen massacre, may last about a half an hour or so before it disappears into a black hole of cyberspace forever.

China gets its hardware to make up what is being called the "Great Firewall" from Cisco, and has the cooperation of major search engine companies Yahoo! and Google. Seems too that Microsoft has joined into the fray, making this a cozy little gang of four. The Within/Without blog reports that MSN Spaces took down a popular blog written by Zhao Jing. The Chinese didn't even get around to censoring that one, MSN took the lead in censoring it.

Google's "official" blog takes an opportunity to defend itself and explains why the company has decided to launch a Chinese version of its search engine that complies with the repressive policies of the Chinese government. We hear the sound of Google's corporate policy of "do no evil" being soundly flushed down the toilet here, as Google explains that "the requirements for doing business in China include self-censorship -- something that runs counter to Google's most basic values and commitments as a company." Yet, despite that, they launched the Chinese portal that "respects the content restrictions imposed by Chinese laws and regulations."

Excuses, excuses. An earlier post on the Hacktivismo blog also talks about the Chinese government's own justification of their censorship, saying that China's rules are "fully in line" with the rest of the world. Well maybe, if you're only looking at countries like Vietnam, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia. Chinese government officials also said that nobody has ever been arrested in China for writing online content. Yeah, right! Now tell me the one about the dragon guarding the cave full of jewels.

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, weighs in on his Dilbert Blog with his usual wit, comparing China's Internet censorship to the Great Wall, which is truly a wondrous site, but was never really that effective in keeping out the invading hordes. I second Scott's desire that China's efforts at censoring the Internet be as successful as was the Great Wall.

Next year's trip to Asia for me will include a side trip to Beijing, where I'll visit an Internet cafe just to see what I can see. I'll be sure to report my findings in this space.

ITworld.com