China’s Internet filtering regime is the most sophisticated effort of its
kind in the world. Compared to similar efforts in other states, China’s
filtering regime is pervasive, sophisticated, and effective. It comprises
multiple levels of legal regulation and technical control. It involves
numerous state agencies and thousands of public and private personnel. It
censors content transmitted through multiple methods, including Web pages,
Web logs, on-line discussion forums, university bulletin board systems, and
e-mail messages.
....
"...the Central Propaganda Department ensures that Chinese publishers print
only material consistent with the Communist Party’s ideology; the Department
uses directives, screenings, and training sessions for publishers and their
employees to accomplish this goal."
....
"The goals of the regulations are to provide good service to users and to
promote socialism."
....
China operates the most extensive, technologically sophisticated, and
broad-reaching system of Internet filtering in the world. The implications
of this distorted on-line information environment for China’s users are
profound, and disturbing.
....
In China, a wide range of topics are considered sensitive or controversial
by the government. Media are heavily controlled and journalists are
frequently punished for publishing information or stating positions that
deviate from official Communist Party doctrine.
....
China attempts to suppress publication of information related to
“subversive” political movements and controversial state actions,
including... independent news media, and pro-democracy / pro-Western
commentary. Calls for decreased censorship are often themselves censored.
Journalists who report on unfavorable events or question the party line are
often jailed on fabricated charges meant to discredit them.
....
Foreign companies cannot invest in newspapers and must enter into
partnerships or licensing agreements with Chinese firms to publish
magazines. While the government generally controls what is published, it is
stricter in some areas than others. Journalists and commentators often
cannot know the boundaries for prohibited expression, and the risk of losing
their jobs and facing civil or criminal liability leads to self-censorship.
....
....the Central Propaganda Department ensures that Chinese publishers print
only material consistent with the Communist Party’s ideology; the Department
uses directives, screenings, and training sessions for publishers and their
employees to accomplish this goal.
....
Internet Content Providers were required to track subscribers’ usage for 60
days, and to turn over such information to government agencies on request.
....
A 1996 decree requires all subscribers to register with their local police
bureau within the first 30 days of signing up with an ISP. Beginning in
2000, China required ISPs to track their users’ account numbers, when users
are online, and the sites customers visit. ISPs must maintain detailed logs
on subscribers’ Internet usage for 60 days, and can be held responsible if
their customers use the ISP’s systems to violate laws. Because of these
laws, ISPs often implement their own monitoring and censoring functions,
further limiting subscribers’ access to information.

[much more]
http://www.opennetinitiative.net/stu...ntry_Study.pdf
The Open Net Initiative is an organization associated with the Berkman
Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School.
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The Revolution Continues

"China is facing the same innovation roadblock the Soviets did." The Soviet
Union could never match Western technological innovations, because Soviet
citizens were never given the freedom to do so. Klinghoffer quotes a
U.S.-embassy report from Beijing that suggests the Chinese are facing the
same bleak futu "Recently a Chinese scholar remarked...that the lack of
intellectual freedom and the extraordinary waste of resources severely
handicap Chinese science. Both problems are rooted in the Communist Party's
monopoly on power and in the socialist system...Nobody believes in Marxism,
said the scholar, it is just a slogan..."

This is precisely the sort of thing we heard from Soviet citizens in the
years leading up to the great implosion of the Soviet Empire. The Russians
had brilliant mathematicians, scientists, and engineers, but the rigidity
and corruption of the system prevented them from translating their
brilliance into high-quality products. The same is going on in China, with
the same political results: The people are angry, and want fundamental
change.

http://www.nationalreview.com/ledeen...0504200822.asp
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