← "Shooting feet" | Return to Main Page | "A different kind of international trade" →

October 28, 2004

You are on the invidual archive page of Undermining the great firewall. Click Simon World weblog for the main page.
Undermining the great firewall

The Heritage Foundation has an article on China's Orwellian Internet. It summaries the history of China and its internet, including the jailing of cyberdissidents, the army of censors the police the internet, the current anti-porn crusade, tracking of mobile phone messages and the "aid of US firms" in the clampdown (on which Tom has more and more). The article correctly argues that if democracy in China is a US policy goal then the internet is a key part of bringing about that change. The author proposes three strategies to help break down the Great Firewall:

1. Designate Internet censorship and monitor­ing systems as “police equipment" so they become regulated under Export Administration Regulations.
2. Renew research into anti-censorship tech­nologies, although Chinese bloggers have found plenty of ways around it already.
3. Establish an Office of Global Internet Free­dom to co-ordinate and monitor these efforts, although personally I'm not sure another Government office is going to help matters much.

China understands the power of the internet to undermine its rule and usher in democracy. That's why it watches and controls it so closely. While these suggestions will help, the firewall itself will likely eventually fall because it is an unsustainable model for controlling information and the net.

(via Enzo)

 posted by Simon on 10.28.04 at 10:42 AM in the




Trackbacks:

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blog.mu.nu/cgi/trackback.cgi/51848

Send a manual trackback ping to this post.

Simon's China and East Asia Briefing: 30th Nov 2004
Excerpt: The following is a digest of highlights from the past month's Asia by Blog series over at simonworld.mu.nu. The round-up has four key areas of focus: China, Taiwan & Hong Kong (Politics, Economy & lifestyle, History sport & culture, Information), Korea...
Weblog: Winds of Change.NET
Tracked: November 30, 2004 01:54 PM


Comments:

An interesting piece you link to, Simon, of one of the more conservative institutions in the US. I think their perception of the internet is wrong, they get the facts wrong. But that is rampant nowadays with American conservatives.
What strikes me is that you still believe in the old ideology that the internet is going to bring about democracy. What I see in China is that is facilitates the emergence of a civil society. It allows people to exchange information. Those are great and important changes, although I do not see how it would bring about democracy - depending of course on how you define that.

 posted by: Fons Tuinstra on 10.28.04 at 11:40 AM [permalink]

I don't believe the internet on its own will bring democracy to China. But I do believe it is a key tool in bringing about that change. The internet certainly allows for information exchange, but should the firewall fall it will allow for full information exchange. At the moment the conversation is limited and restricted. The internet can act as a tool to help individuals realise there are others that are like minded, around which the beginnings of democratic change can begin. That means allowing people to have more say over their lives, express their thoughts openly and be able to criticise the Government without fear. The internet already provides the means for that, but China restricts it. It won't last.

 posted by: Simon on 10.28.04 at 12:00 PM [permalink]

The emergence of a civil society in a political context that doesn't allow it is a big achievement on the road to democracy. That's why communist rulers are so scared.

Regards.

Enzo

 posted by: 1972 on 10.28.04 at 10:33 PM [permalink]

I do think there is on a central level a roadpath towards a civil society, as I try to explain here:
http://www.chinaherald.net/2004/10/law-testing-emerging-civil-society.html
You cannot just dissolve a planned economy, announce a market economy without have a systematic way in place to negotiate between different stakeholders. But it is going to be a rocky way.
On the firewall: thanks to new proxies I have downgraded it from a minor nuisance to virtually none existing. The emperor is wearing no clothes anymore, at least for the overwhelming majority of internet users.

 posted by: Fons Tuinstra on 10.29.04 at 12:57 PM [permalink]




Post a Comment:

Name:


Email Address:


URL:


Comments:


Remember your info?







Disclaimer
All content, including comments, on this site operates under a Creative Commons Licence. The content except for quotes reflect my personal opinions and not those of my employer, family, co-workers, fellow Sydney Swans supporters or anyone else. The comments section is open but if you write it, you stand by it. I take no responsibility for comments. I may, at my sole discretion, moderate, alter or remove comments. I reserve the right to unashamedly change the rules as I go along. All emails are publishable unless otherwise marked. If you don't like it, use the little x in the top right of your browser.