Behind China's Internet Censorship

Online censorship has been a major issue in China's new media realm since the rise of the Internet itself in the mid 90s. The Chinese government and its large Internet police force actively block anything and everything that introduces the possibility for uprising or unrest. This includes social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, online forums, and risky keywords.

China's restrictions tighten with every rumor of possible protest. Recently, there has been a call in the online community for a "Jasmine Revolution" inspired by the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. As a result, the government has quickly moved to plug the holes in its "Great Firewall." A number of virtual private networks (VPNs) - "encrypted tunnels through the Internet that make communications secure and enable users to bypass censors" - have reported problems in the past few days. Gmail has also encountered problems such as long loading times and chat malfunctions. Google, which moved from mainland to HK after a public struggle with the censorship system last year, stated that there are no technical difficulties on their end. The government is going to lengths to mask the issue by not blocking Gmail directly but by making it seem as if the issue is internal.

The unrest in the Middle East has also presented a major threat to China's social stability since China is experiencing many similar issues (rising public dissatisfaction over inflation, official corruption, and growing income disparities). Not surprisingly, keywords like "Egypt" and "Libya" have been blocked from all search engines. Interestingly, Chinese netizens have employed the use of different euphemisms to get around the blocked material (for example, embedding social commentary in discussions of "jasmine tea").

More and more, China's Internet system is becoming an isolated intranet. The increasingly limited flow of information could very well hinder China's progress in innovation and development. The new move is also angering many who are dependent on proxies to access blocked overseas information. Expats are losing patience with the government interference and considering moving out of China. This may have a serious economic toll on China's growing number of foreign firms.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/03/28/China.blogger.mao/index.html?hpt=C2

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/china-plugging-holes-in-great-firewall-2254327.html

-Annie-