[LINK] Chinese 'control' of the internet

[Jan Whitaker]

An article in the Far Eastern Economic Review caught my attention. 
It's about internet censorship in China:

http://www.feer.com/articles1/2007/0712/free/p018.html?Pulling_the_Strings_of_China%E2%80%99s_Internet

Pulling the Strings of China's Internet

December 2007

by David Bandurski

When some of the world's top technology companies, including Yahoo!, 
Intel, Nokia and Ericsson, formed the Beijing Association of Online 
Media three years ago, the group seemed to be a typical trade 
association, sponsoring social activities and facilitating 
networking. Even when its activities widened last year to include 
"self-policing" the Internet, it seemed to be benign, targeting 
content that "contradicts social morality and Chinese traditional 
virtues," i.e. pornography. The message was that the companies were 
providing a public service in spaces used by Chinese teens, not 
helping the government maintain political control.

Yet today it is clear that BAOM has become an active agent of the 
Chinese government's initiatives to stifle discussion of political 
issues. The group's slide into censorship shows how easily Beijing 
can co-opt Western firms into this effort. And BAOM is becoming a 
model in a new push to tighten control over Internet speech.

[snip]

Jan Whitaker
JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
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