Chinese Internet censorship could pose as bad model for others
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – China is introducing new and more sophisticated ways of censoring the internet to prevent “unauthorized” use, a human rights NGO, Reporters without Borders (RSF), claimed in its annual report on press freedom.
In China, 52 people are in jail, convicted of internet activities deemed “inappropriate”. In the rest of the world “only” 10 cyber-dissidents have been imprisoned (four in Vietnam, three in Syria and one each in Tunisia, Libya and Iran.)
In its report published on 1 February, RSF said Beijing was working hard to keep up to date with all technological developments like those introduced by YouTube to allow people to post and share videos online. The report said "China and Iran are keen to filter videos that appear - too much 'subversive' content for China and too much 'immorality' for Iran.”
At the end of January, President Hu Jintao called on the entire apparatus of the Communist Party to "purify the internet environment" saying "whether we can cope with the internet is a matter that affects the development of socialist culture, the security of information and the stability of the state.”
Government control is implemented not only through technology but also through the extensive commitment of a special police corps and thanks to the collaboration of firms that manage websites. China “has the political weight to force companies in the sector - such as Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft and Cisco Systems - to do what it wants them to." In 2006, US firms came in for harsh criticism and were even subject to questions in the US Congress for revealing the identity of cyber-dissidents to the Chinese police, as Yahoo did in February 2005, to avoid being banned in the country. The dissidents were subsequently jailed.
According to the Chinese Internet Information Centre, last year the number of internet users grew by 23.4% (26 million people), bringing the total number of users up to more than 137 million. The vast majority do not have access to those sites that offer uncensored opinions and criticism of the Party and the local government. And yet, despite the iron control over information from and of the country, some dissidents still manage to send unfiltered information abroad.
Chinese censorship is held to be a danger and a problem not only for the country but for the entire global community. The report said that the danger is that “China's internet model, based on censorship and surveillance, may one day be imposed on the rest of the world”. RSF said that so far, internet users have always managed to find ways and means of getting around censorship and filters but now governments and companies from around the world must intervene to support freedom of expression.
"It has become vital to examine new technology from a moral standpoint and understand the secondary effects of it. If firms and democratic countries continue to duck the issue and pass off ethical responsibility on others, we shall soon be in a world where all our communications are spied on."
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