Chinese Government's Control of the Internet - Research Paper Example

 The People’s Republic of China has a long standing policy of information control in the sense that its government places tight constraints on the information it permits its citizens to have access to. (Zittrain and Edelman, 2003) Although the internet with its capacity to expose all users to information at will, the Chinese government has managed to control its citizens access to certain websites through the auspices of internet filtering and/or censorship. (Zittrain and Edelman, 2003) The rationale is that while the government in one jurisdiction cannot control what is posted on a website in another jurisdiction, the Chinese government can control access to those publications within its own territory. Research conducted by Zittrain and Edelman at Harvard Law School from about May 2002 to November 2002 found that at 19,032 websites were blocked in China although those websites remained open to users in the United States. (Zittrain and Edelman, 2003) The websites blocked contained items such as “news, politics, health, commerce and entertainment.” (Zittrain and Edelman, 2003) The number of blocked websites and the nature of the material blocked indicates that internet censorship in China is far too excessive and absolutely unnecessary and counterproductive in an age of globalization. This article focuses on the measures taken by China to control information access via the internet and how these methods of information control are inconsistent with China’s open door trade policies. China’s Information Control Policies In a report for the US Congress in November 2005 Social Science Analyst for the US Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Division, Michelle Law provided a comprehensive overview of China’s information control policies. (Lau, 2005) The report also examines how China meets the challenges to these policies that arise out of the growth of the internet. (Lau, 2005) In very simple terms Lau explains that: “Since its founding in 1949, the People’s Republic of China has often been accused of manipulating the flow of information and prohibiting the dissemination of viewpoints that criticize the government or stray from the official Communist party view.” (Lau, 2005) China’s primary goal is to exercise a measure of control over public opinion. (Lau, 2005) Even with the introduction of the internet in the 1990s and its capacity to permit access to other sources of information the Chinese government have found effective ways to filter access to this new and innovative means of accessing information. (Lau, 2005) Historically, China’s information control policies were characterised by a stranglehold on the media with respect to public communication and denying the masses the “right and means” to access uncensored information from outside sources. (Chu, 1994, 4-21) The risk of losing control of the flow of information within China as a result of the invention of the internet and electronic media outlets was recognized in China and reported by China’s Vice Minister of Radio, Film and TV as well as the General Director of China Central TV. The Vice Minister and General Director, Yang Wieguang issued the following warning: “If we do not act resolutely and effectively now, the US and other Western countries may achieve their goals of disintegrating China by transborder broadcasting and other new media technologies, just as they did to the USSR and other Eastern European countries.” (Yang, 1994, 93-94) The introduction of the internet during the 1990s witnessed a growth unmatched by any other communications technology including the cellular telephone and fax machines. (Sterling, 1993) For instance, in 1991 there were approximately 130, 000 internet users and that number improved to more than 8 million by May 1993. (Levin, 1993) By 1995 approximately 33 million internet uses were identified in over 100 countries. (Newsweek, 1995) By the following year that number more than doubled. (Netree.com, 1996) By 1995 China’s various offices, families and management facilities were using up in excess of two million computers with 60,000 databanks associated with the information industry. (Xinhua, 1995) In 1995 Microsoft Corporation released a report in which it was projected that China was the world’s seventh largest personal computer market. (Vittachi, 1995, 6) Until 1994 China’s internet users were detached from international connections. (CINET-L Newsletter, 1994a) By 1994 a number of major networks attached links to the internet within China. (CINET-L Newsletter, 1994a) One such major network was the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences which was linked to the internet via AT&T. (CINET-L Newsletter, 1994a) Later the same year the Academy of Sciences switched from AT&T to the National Laboratory for High Energy Physics in Japan which was connected to the internet via Esent and US internet service provider. (CINET-L Newsletter, 1994b) Other direct links to the internet would soon follow. By 1995 there were at least eight internet service providers in China including the government owned ChinaNet, a commercial concern China Internet Corporation and the China Education and Research Network. (Lange, 1995) Statistics released in 1996 indicated that China had over 100,000 internet users and those numbers were increasing rapidly. (CINET-L Newsletter, 1996) This new and innovative means of information technology poses a challenge to China’s information control policies. Obviously since the coming into power of the Chinese Communist Party, the government has used its residual power to direct just what information can enter its borders and what information can leave its borders. This new technology provides a means by which information may enter or leave China unchecked by governmental authority. (Wasko and Mosco, 1992) The Chinese government has always had a relatively easy task controlling and punishing local media entities and individuals who do not subscribe to the role of representing “the eyes, ears and mouthpieces” of the ruling Chinese government. (Y. Hu, 1985) Reaffirming its commitment to information control the Central Committee published a circular which stated as follows: “Newspapers and journals of the Party, radio and TV broadcasting stations of the state as well as other relevant publications are mouthpieces of the Party and people. They must unconditionally propagate the guidelines, policies and regulations of the Party and government under the leadership of the Party.” (CPC Central Committee, 1987, 3) Political unrest in 1989 set off by a series of student protests gave way to a firmer commitment on the part of the Chinese government to seize tighter control of the flow of information in and out of China. Although the media remains a major tool for the Chinese administration to manipulate public opinion the government’s strengthened information control policy led to a ban on new publishing establishments for at least two years. (Straits Times, 1994) China made it clear as early as 1995 that it fully intended to continue to control information by extending its policy so that censorship of internet as well as satellite television would be monitored and constrained. Minister of Posts and Telecommunication Wu Jichaun reported: “By linking with the internet, we don’t mean absolute freedom of information.” (Vittachi, 1995, 6) Jichaun also promised that China would implement “management measures” with the goal of ensuring that the information that reached Chinese people was acceptable. (Vittachi, 1995, 6) Affirmative action was taken on February 1, 1996 under China’s Computer Network and Internet Management Regulations in China [trial basis]. (Crothall, 1996, 1) These internet management regulations systematically require that all internet links be directed through the network maintained by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication or other government agencies designated for the same purpose. (Crothall, 1996, 1) Any deviation from these requirements was a criminal offence. (Crothall, 1996, 1) Additional measure soon followed and by the middle of February 1996 China a second circular was published ordering Chinese internet subscribers to register their accounts with the police department within a month and to sign an agreement promising not to take steps calculated to harm the nation and to commit crimes. (Crothall, 1996, 1) This new regulation was described as necessary for safeguarding the healthy growth of China’s information industry, “to prevent criminal behaviour in this area” as well as to “halt the flow of harmful information.” (Crothall, 1996, 1) Additionally the government ordered that any information originating from foreign entities with respect to commercial matters by filtered through the states news agency. (Crothall, 1996, 1) The Chinese government almost immediately adapted a policy in which it delegated to computer network operators who were place in the position of censors. (Lange, 1995) In keeping with this mandage, ChinaNet, China’s largest internet service provider announced that it would block an material containing “smut, politics or decadent Western culture.” (Lange, 1995) China continued to take steps to filter access to information via the internet and by the middle of September, 2002 search engines Google and Altavista were blocked with the result that internet users were diverted to domestic links such as the Shanghai Hotline a Chinese internet service provider commandeered by China Telecom or other web pages lawfully registered and approved by the Chinese administration and thereby subscribing to strict censorship requirements. (Hung, 2004) In 1996 China enacted the law of Management of International Connections by Computer Information Networks. (Hung, 2004) In very broad terms this new enactment bans “any activities that might endanger state security.” (Hung, 2004) In the years that followed 1996 China rigorously enacted a number of laws and regulations with a view to: “...training internet policemen, blocking specific websites and filtering sensitive online information.” (Hung, 2004) China’s Information Control Policies in the Context of its Globalization Agenda China’s main objective is to use this new information technology to enhance its commercial agenda and to control the free flow of information. (Hung, 2004) These objectives conflict with each other since only democratic use of the internet can enhance commercial use of the internet while controlling the free flow of information and exchange of opinions and ideas are as non-democratic as it can possibly be. Essentially the Chinese government is using information control policies with respect to internet technology in a manner which pits the power of the market against the power of the state. (Hung, 2004) Hung explains that: “The way the Chinese government views the internet is leading to two trends of internet regulation in China. The first is promoting commercial use of the internet. The internet has opened from academic use to commercial application in 1994. From that time on, the Chinese government has increasingly positioned e-commerce high on its official agenda.” (Hung, 2004) The commercial emphasis of China’s internet acceptance is manifested by the fact that the number of commercial websites have grown from 52 percent in 1997 to 78 percent in 2002. (Hung, 2004) The second way that the Chinese government uses the internet is to control “online content as much as possible.” (Hung, 2004) The tension between these two opposing uses of the internet are illustrated by the democracy required of international trade and the limits of containment of democracy via a policy of censorship on information technology. Steger (2002) provides an eloquent juxtaposition of globalization in a policy destined to control the free flow of information, ideas and opinions. According to Steger (2002) there are five themes attached to globalization that speak to democratic values. The five themes are: 1. The integration of liberalization and globalization of the world market which requires a democratic protection and appreciation for human rights. 2. Globalization requires weakened domestic government and the removal of borders. 3. Globalization requires the removal of strict controls and barriers. 4. Globalization is for the benefit of all people not the elite. 5. Globalization necessarily encourages widespread democracy. (Steger, 2002) Perhaps Freidman (2002) puts it into perspective more effectively. According to Friedman, globalization and democratization are indivisible. (Friedman, 2002) Maintaining and cultivating global markets carries with it a necessity for transparency, unification of standards and the removal of barriers to trade. (Friedman, 2002) More importantly perhaps, globalization cannot succeed if the press is not free. (Friedman, 2002) The internet itself has provided a more efficient means of removing barriers to trade and has stripped states of jurisdictional control by existing in cyberspace rather than in one nation. In this way, the internet facilitates international trade by removing virtually all barriers to trade. Even so, China who prides itself on opening trade markets to the world at large has adapted an attitude: “...from virtually ignoring the internet as a major new medium to viewing it as a potential threat to the political system and to public morality. (McIntyre, 2002, 71) In other words, China takes a unique position with respect to the internet. It views it as an instrument for control over its citizen and at the same time as an instrument for commercial growth and development. The internet is therefore viewed as a pivotal instrument necessary to facilitate China’s competitiveness on the global trade markets while at the same time posing a threat to its political agenda. China’s economic policies toward international competitiveness in not new. Following the establishing of the People’s Republic of China, China followed a course calculated to bring China in line with developed nations. (Hung, 2004) This was manifested by China’s Cultural Revolution under Mao Zedong. (Hung, 2004) Following the Cultural Revolution efforts were made within the Chinese administration to introduce market tools into the economic structure of china. (Hung, 2004) Some of these efforts included: “...the Four Modernizations in agriculture, industry, defense and science and technology.”(Hung, 2004) Unavoidably, these new strategies are tied to the rapid improvement of China’s commercial prowess. China, in recent years has began to: “develop industries or activities which are broadly defined as components of the New Economy...” (Wong and Nah, 2001, 2) These changes are fuelled by globalization and the introduction of information technology. (Wong and Nah, 2001, 2) The rapid growth of information technology is borne out by statistics. Information technologies have sustained a rapid annual growth of at least 30 percent. (Hung, 2004) In fact in 1999, information technology sales improved by 16.2 percent netting 172 billion yaun the equivalent of US$20 billion. (Hung, 2004) Again, in 1999 just under five million personal computers were purchased in China. (Hung, 2004) 76 percent of all computer sales in China in 1999 were the sale of computer hardware, a 13 percent increase over the previous year in 1998. (Hung, 2004) The sale of computer software witnessed a 27 percent increase over the previous year. (Hung, 2004) By the year 2000, internet users in China numbered 16.9 million of which 14 percent had used e-commerce. (Hung, 2004) Online network subscribers reached 125 million. (Hung, 2004) As of 2004 China had the second biggest internet network market. (Hung, 2004) By 2003, China’s internet users totalled 68 million and were related to e-commerce. (CNNIC, 2003) As Hung explains: “Compared to the amount of internet users in 1997 (0.62 million) in which the first official survey of internet use was conducted, internet users grew more than one hundred times within 6 years.” (Hung, 2004) This phenomenal growth in internet use in China is attributed to the government’s attempts to improve infrastructure and commercializing the internet. (Giese, 2003, 36) It therefore follows that China’s commercialization of the internet is entirely in line with the perception that globalization is facilitated by the internet and information technology as a whole. Internet commercialization is manifested by e-commerce and “online advertising.” (Hung, 2004) The Chinese government has stated that it is predisposed to: “...work hard on e-commerce, accelerate the process of information and support enterprise in applying modern information network technology to international cooperation and exchange.” (Hung, 2004) E-commerce is viewed as a means for China to compensate for its failure in the effective distribution in the market. (Dai, 2004, 20) In June 2003, dot.com sites accommodated at least 48 percent of all of China’s websites with dot.edu accommodating only 0.7 percent , dot.gov accommodated 3.7 percent and dot.org only 2.9 percent. (Hung, 2004) Hung (2004) explains that: “Dot.com sites accounted for about 80% if second-level domain name are not included.”(Hung, 2004) E-commerce alone generated over 200 million yaun in 1999 double the numbers for the previous year. (Chinaonline, 2000) Advertising via the internet is a source of income in China and is capitalized by the Chinese government. For instance the State Administration of Industry and Commerce published 27 advertisements on line with respect to licences for “domestic e-commerce operators.” (Hung, 2004) Hung explains that: “Since their online sales revenue was low, most e-commerce operators depend on advertising income for funding.” (Hung, 2004) Evidence of the value of internet advertisement to China’s economy is manifested by the fact that 65 percent of Netease.com’ income of US$2 million revenue in 1999 came from advertising. (Hung, 2004) Sohu.com derived 93 percent of a US$1.6 million from online advertising. (Hung, 2004) Even so, the internet comes at a high price in China. The internet service providers are either wholly owned by the government or partially funded by the government. (Hung 2004) In any case the government maintains strict control of these service providers regulating the manner in which they can be used. So while these financial constraints continue to widen the gap between the haves and the haves not, the one-dimensional use of the internet together with information censors of cyberspace threaten the concept of democracy, a necessary tool for free and open markets in the world economy. Article 2/China’s Control of Internet Use The Chinese government’s control of internet use is guided by a non-democratic policy designed only to promote commerce and at the same time control the exchange of information. This process of information control is not without flaws since the internet itself virtually exists in a lawless state. While stringent filtering policies are a shock to Western conscience, the Chinese persists in this practice. Yet the wide and far reaching possibilities that the internet provides for the free exchange of information has its practical problems. Be that as it may the Chinese government welcomed the internet in three distinct phases. (Hung, 2004) The first phase began with a research oriented goal. (Chao, 2002) As early as 1989 the Chinese government together with the World Bank embarked upon a joint project coded National Computing and Networking Facilities of China which was designed to implement a national computer center serving three networks that shared computing dynamics. (Hung, 2004) At this first phase the computers were used by the countries research institutes. (Hung, 2004) The second phase which followed in 1994 and 1995 was education oriented. (Hung, 2004) Titled China Education and Research Network, this phase had as its objective the linking of China’s universities and institutions of higher learning as well as China’s schools. (Hung, 2004) In the third phase the Chinese government opened the internet up to commercial use by implementing the China Nationwide Public Network in 1994.(Hung, 2004) China Nationwide Public Network is a branch of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications/China Telecom, a wholly owned government facility with outlets in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.(Hung, 2004) By 1996 the Chinese government was entirely regulating internet use in China. (Hung, 2004) Laws were put in place that limited the use of the internet. (Hung, 2004) A US Congress released in November 2005 Social Science Analyst for the US Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Division, Michelle Law provided a detailed account of the manner in which China regulates the use of the internet within its borders. (Lau, 2005) According to Lau, the Chinese government’s censorship of the internet has been flawed and this in itself speaks to the virtual impossibility of blocking the free exchange of information on the internet. Lau writes in her report: “In pursuit of economic growth and modernization...the government actively promoted Internet development. Because it is subject to PRC censorship, yet continues to spread news across national borders, the Internet has played a role in bringing international attention to issues forbidden in China, including PRC censorship itself.” (Lau, 2005) While the use of the internet in China as a means of improving technology, education and commerce was viewed as a means by which to spread democracy to China, Pau points out these optimistic expectation were met by intensified efforts on the part of the Chinese government to censor the internet. (Lau, 2005) Research initiative unveil that China has in its possession an effective and successful means of filtering content sent via the internet. (Liang, 2005) This filtering mechanism is achieved by a combination of strategies, namely regulations and technical means. (Lau, 2005) Although government representatives of the People’s Republic of China have maintained that they only filter pornographic, superstitious, violent and gambling content, the same was found to palpably false. (Lau, 2005) Lau reports that anything that the Chinese government regards as “politically objectionable” is subject to censor. (Lau, 2005) In fact the BBC’s website as well as Voice of America and Wikipedia have each “been blocked in China.” (Lau, 2005) Filtering is used to limit the kind of information Chinese residents can access. Likewise it is used to provide information that the Chinese government wishes to pass onto its people. For instance the People’s Daily: “...a state-sponsored newspaper, has an online bulletin board called the ‘Strong Nation Forum’ intended for discussion how to make China a stronger nation.” (Lau, 2005) In fact in April of 2005, the newspaper’s forum posted anti-Japanese information in the midst of a “political fallout” between the countries. (Lau, 2005) Another method of internet censorship and control was manifested by moderators removal of messages of condolences posted by internet users in response to the death of Communist Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang. (Lau, 2005) Ziyang had been removed from office for illustrating sympathy with the student protested in 1989. (Lau, 2005) This censorship of condolences via the internet was construed as: “Government sensitivity to calls for rehabilitation of those condemned during the protests.” (Lau, 2005) The Chinese government’s main method of censorship is the implementation of a regulatory regime which engages surveillance techniques and strict punitive consequences which incites widespread cooperation. (Lau, 2005) Another means of censorship is deployed by both technological and “human monitors” that are capable of filtering objectionable material. (Lau, 2005) The regulations are numerous and the government employs a number of agencies to enforce the regulations and to prevent abuse of their mandate. (Lau, 2005) To start with an internet service provider is required to be approved for licence by the Ministry of Information Industry and must provide the Ministry with the account number for each customer as well as their respective IP addresses, telephone numbers, time spent online and “sites visited.” (Lau, 2005) Moreover, internet content providers are required to: “record all content made available and the date it was issued.” (Lau, 2005) In all events both service and content providers are required to keep records of account users and their personal information and internet habits for at least two months and must be prepared to surrender those records to any requesting government agency. (Measure for the Administration of Internet Information Services, 2000) Internet Cafes are equally required to act as censors in that they too are required to use blocking software for the purpose of blocking “pornographic and subversive content.” (Lau, 2005) In addition Internet Cafe operators are required to: “Keep detailed logs linking users to the pages they visited and record visits to any blocked pages, and report these to the Public Security Bureau.” (Lau, 2005) Like content and service providers, Internet Cafes are also required to maintain records of internet users for 60 days and to make those records available if and when requested by a government agency. (Lau, 2005) Article 4 of China’s Computer Information Network and Internet Security, Protection and Management Regulations 1997 (CINIS) provide that: “Individuals are prohibited from using the Internet to harm national security, disclose state secrets, or injure the interest of the state or society.” (CINIS) Perhaps the most serious measure of censorship is contained in Article 5 of the 1997 regulations which provide as follows: “Users are prohibited from using the internet to create, replicate, retrieve, or transmit information that incites resistance to the PRC Constitution, laws, or administrative regulations, promotes the overthrow of the government or socialist system, undermines national unification, distorts the truth, spreads rumors, or destroys social order, or provides sexually suggestive material or encourages gambling, violence or murder.” (CINIS) Article 6 of the 1997 regulations goes on to prohibit the participation in any activities that “harm the security of computer information networks” and are likewise forbidden to use “network resources” without first obtaining approval. (CINIS) In July 2005 the Chinese Government illustrated just how seriously the 1997 regulations were to be taken and closed “thousands of websites” that had failed to register with the Chinese government. (Lau, 2005) To tighten its grip on the control of information over the internet the Chinese government implemented additional measures under 2005 Regulations. (Lau, 2005) The new regulations implemented provisions that had only been passed in 2000 on a provisional basis. (Lau, 2005) This rules basically made it mandatory for the registration and licensing of all parties who were deployed in “Internet information services.” (Rules on the Administration of Internet News Information Services) The new regulation requires that both private entities and individuals register as news’ organizations in order to manage web pages or distribute e-mail accounts that include in their content news or any kind of commentary. (Rules on the Administration of Internet News Information Services) Another provision under the new regulations prohibits internet news services publishing any content that has the capacity to encourage civil unrest in the form of assemblies and demonstrations. (Rules on the Administration of Internet News Information Services) Any violation of the Regulations attract penalties and fines. (Lau, 2005) For example under the 2005 regulations closure together with fines from 30,000 yaun to 30, 000 are applicable. Violations warranting closure and fines can exist with failure to register. (Lau, 2005) Additionally, network access can be denied under these circumstance. As for technological censorship China carries this element out by virtue of a router which blocks websites and key words. 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(March, 2003) “Empirical Analysis of Internet Filtering in China”. Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard Law School. Available online at: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/ Retrieved Sept. 25, 2008 Read More