China Digital Times

China news tagged with: Internet control (209)

• Cyber-skirmish at the Top of the World

  

  A report in Asia Times looks at efforts by Beijing to control Internet access in Tibetan areas:

  Efforts in the sensitive Tibetan regions of China are more direct and draconian, especially in the context of heightened tensions following the unrest in March 2008.

  Landline, cell and Internet services in Tibetan areas were interrupted during the period of unrest. When the Chinese government became aware that Tibetan dissidents were using the video-sharing website YouTube as a text-free method to communicate, it shut it down. When image-sharing website Flickr emerged as a potential source of visual information, it was blocked. Tibetan radio broadcasts by Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Voice of Tibet were jammed. A campaign against satellite dishes was intensified to limit the audience of VOA’s direct-to-dish Tibet TV service. In order to cut off cell-phone based talk, text, and images, China reportedly limited service and tore down cell phone towers.

  When confronting in cyberspace supporters of Tibetan dissidents located outside of China, the Chinese government is apparently abetted by a group of hackers, acting either pro bono or with government encouragement. The hackers disrupt websites, harass activists and, it transpires, organize extensive espionage operations against targeted computers around the world.

  » Read more
  • April 8, 2009 11:37 AM

• Freedom House: China, Iran Censor Web

  

  From AFP:

  China’s “sophisticated and multi-layered” efforts to censor and control the Internet earned it a “not free” rating by a US rights group in a report released Wednesday.

  Freedom House, which examined web freedom issues in 15 countries, listed Cuba, Iran and Tunisia as three other nations it considered “not free” due to government control of online activity.

  Seven countries studied — Egypt, India, Georgia, Kenya, Malaysia, Russia and Turkey — were considered “partly free” while four others — Brazil, Britain, Estonia and South Africa — were labeled “free.”

  Freedom House, which monitors political rights and civil liberties around the globe, said the rights of Internet users were increasingly at risk as governments expanded their ability to control online activity.

  » Read more
  • April 2, 2009 11:42 PM

• Qin Gang (秦刚): What Can and Cannot be Watched Online

  

  

  The following excerpt is from remarks by Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Qin Gang (秦刚) during a press conference on March 31, 2009, and is being widely commented on by Chinese netizens:

  Question: YouTube was blocked at one point last week and was available again from China, and now it seems to be blocked again. There are speculations that it links to the release of video from the “Tibetan Government in Exile”. Do you have any comment on that? Is there any particular offensive material on YouTube right now that causes it to be blocked again?

  Qin Gang: I answered this question at the last regular press conference and here I’d like to reiterate my answer briefly. The Internet in China is fully open and the Chinese Government manages the Internet according to the law. As for what you can and cannot watch, watch what you can watch, and don’t watch what you cannot watch.

  [The translation above appeared on the Foreign Ministry website. However, CDT re-translated the last sentence to be closer to the original Chinese]

  问：上周Youtube网站曾一度被屏蔽，现在又再次被封，有人猜测是这跟“西藏流亡政府”发布在Youtube上的一段视频有关。你对此有何评论?还是Youtube上又出现了一些导致它被封的视频片断?

  答：上次记者会我已经回答了这个问题，我在这里再简短重申一下。中国的互联网是充分开放的，同时中国政府也要依法管理网络。至于能看什么，不能看什么，能看的就看，不能看的就别看。

  » Read more
  • April 1, 2009 11:04 PM

• YouTube Again Accessible

  

  According to a New York Times briefing, YouTube access has been restored in China:

  The Chinese government has lifted its block of YouTube, the popular video-sharing Web site run by Google. On Friday, people in Beijing access the site without using special software to enter it through a proxy server, a common way of getting around Internet walls put up by the government.

  Danwei notes that Chinese IP addresses are rerouted to a Chinese language page:

  Youtube now asks you to set up a country preference when you access it, directing Chinese IP addresses to a Chinese language page.

  When using proxy servers abroad, Youtube directed my browser to the country in which the proxy server was located.

  For more information on the YouTube block, see CDT posts “YouTube Blocked in China; Official Says Video Fake.”

  » Read more
  • March 27, 2009 9:18 PM

• Shanghaiist: More Ballads to the Grass Mud Horse (with Video)

  

  The grass-mud horse (草泥马) meme has been spreading like wildfire over the Internet in China and shows no signs of banking.  Shanghaiist has collected three more original songs and videos of the mythical creature which has become the mascot for Chinese netizens’ defiance of official censorship online.

  We’ve already reported on the current darling of the internets, the Grass Mud Horse (草泥马), last week. But after a bout of Youtube surfing over the weekend, we realized that we weren’t doing the almost religious fanaticism to this new meme justice. So we’ve included some more “Cao Ni Ma” ballads to lighten up your Monday morning.

  First off, a girl sings about love relationships amongst the Grass Mud Horses. When Male and Gebi bred, they produced an offspring they named “法克泥马 （Fa Ke Ni Ma）”

  Two other videos feature the grass-mud horse in a Chinese folk song sung by a children’s chorus accompanied by a full orchestra.

  See more of CDT’s previous grass-mud horse coverage here and here.

  » Read more
  • March 16, 2009 12:29 AM

• Cui Weiping (崔卫平): I Am a Grass-Mud Horse (Video added)

  

  The “grass-mud horse (草泥马)” has now become the icon of online resistance to censorship. It seems that everywhere the “river crabs (河蟹)” go, the “grass-mud horses” grow in numbers.

  Professor Cui Weiping (崔卫平) teaches at the Beijing Film Academy. A literary and film critic and scholar, she is also known in Chinese intellectual circles for translating Václav Havel’s works into Chinese. She writes about the “Grass-Mud Horse” phenomenon in tecn.cn, via hecaitou.net, excerpts translated by CDT:

  The Song of the “Grass-Mud Horse (草泥马)” appeared quite early, in late January 2009. The children’s chorus version was put up in early February. All these things are related to a “Special Campaign to Rectify Vulgar Content on the Internet” launched at the beginning of the year. People vent their feelings about the campaign through these spoofs.

  The special campaign seems a little distant from the business of intellectuals. They may have thought that it has nothing to do with them. How can they get involved with this kind of stuff? It has to be pointed out that in many respects the latest drive resembles the Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign in 1983. Authorities announced that, “by February 10, the campaign had shut down 1,911 websites that seriously violated laws and regulations, and 269 pornographic blogs.” They have also named four batches of websites as being “vulgar,” including Sina, Sohu, Baidu and Tencent. Surprisingly, Douban, which has long been seen as a highbrow, “petite bourgeois” website, is also on the list and slated for harsh rectification.

  I’ll refrain from introducing Douban from the very beginning. It will be too long a story and will sound like advertising for it. “Once upon a time, I wished Douban would become the intellectual front of our post-1980s generation, a place where we can express our thoughts and an integral part of our life,” a net friend wrote. I myself visited its “Nine O’clock” page from time to time, in order to get a sense of what young people are reading and how they read. So I’ve paid close attention to Douban. One of its important characteristics is the large number of groups. As to how these groups are formed, please take a look at this link. Some people have joined more than ten Douban groups. During the “special campaign,” many groups have been disbanded.

  Look at these dissolved groups. How many of them can be seen as related to vulgarity?

  YanHuangChunQiu 炎黄春秋 (magazine) Group, Southern Weekend (newspaper) Group, Northern Weekend Group (as well as Northern Weekend 2.0 Group and Northern Weekend 3.0 Group), Democratic Socialism Group, Cultural Revolution Group, To Mourn Zhang Zhixin Group, Yazhou Zhoukan (Asia Weekly) Group, Taiwan Politics Group, Freedom of Speech Group, Please Give Though Freedom Group, He Weifang Group, Ran Yunfei Group, Xu Youyu Group, Vaclav Havel Group, Against Narrow-minded Nationalism Group, Bullog Group……

  He Weifang mentioned the incident on his Sina blog. A net friend named Shang Gaosheng left a message on He’s blog: “He Weifang Group gathered many important Chinese thinkers. They are rational, serious, incisive and sharp. They are crucial sobering agents in China’s social psyche.”

  I heard Zhang Xudong Group had also been broken up. Some net friends said it had been hit by “friendly fire.” Casualties from “friendly fire” also include Worship Mao Zedong Group. The moderator of the group claimed that he had not done much propaganda work other than posting two articles by Mao Zedong – “On Contradiction” and “On Practice” – and linking to the first five volumes of “Selected Works of Mao Zedong” on the page. I wonder if the dissolution of Hate Badmouthing Communist Party Group, Harmonious Society Group and Leftist Youth Group was also because of “friendly fire.”

  Some Douban groups used to boast huge memberships. He Weifang Group had 2,676 people signed on. A political philosophy group exclusively devoted to theoretical debates also had more than 2,000 members. A “Seeking Truth from Facts” Group was also disbanded. One of its ex-members wrote that he had only known “Seeking Truth from Facts” as his alma mater Renmin University’s school motto and he could never imagine the group would fall into the “vulgarity” category. What’s more, he had barely browsed the group’s page after joining it. So after its dissolution, he really regretted the fact and wanted to know what had been discussed in the group. He also discovered an eye-opening reality: They are not afraid of things like freedom and democracy. They are most scared by “Seeking Truth from Facts”!

  Some disbanded groups have interesting names. They must have been products from some special periods of time. Here are some examples: Deep Onlooking Masses Group, A Small Handful of People with Ulterior Motives Group, A Small Handful 3.0 Group, A Small Handful 5.0 Group, A Small Handful 6.0 Group, A Small Tableful of People with Ulterior Motives Group, Unwitting Masses Group, Strange Uncle Very Affable Group, Fifty Cents Asylum Station Group, Foreign Ministry Spokespersons Onlooking Group, CCAV-10 Walk into Pseudo Science Group.

  After the groups were closed, people created new ones. They were named We Are Waiting to Be Dissolved Group, To Be Dissolved by Douban Group, Douban Can Nip Flowers but Not Stop Spring Group, River Crab Douban Loved by Everybody Group, etc. To be sure, they have all been “river crabbed” (harmonized). What is the reason behind that? The disbanded groups constituted a great variety, but their demise shared one common reason. Let me just post it here:

  Dear Users,

  How are you?

  We very regretfully notify you that:

  Because of themes that are considered unwelcome by Douban’s Community Guidelines, the group you signed onto, Seeking Truth From Facts, has been dissolved according to the first article in the Groups Management Rules.

  As a website that operates within China, Douban strictly abides by Chinese laws and regulations and the requirements set by relevant policies. In terms of the scope of our services, we wish to exercise minimal interference with content generated by users. Out of the respect for laws and regulations, and to ensure the users’ legal safety, Douban clearly states that it does not welcome radical political and ideological content and discussions. We’ll continue to enhance our management in this regard.

  We thank you for your attention to and support for Douban. We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused by the dissolution of some groups. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation with our work.

  Appendix 1: Regulations on Internet Information Service

  Appendix 2: Douban Community Guidelines

  Appendix 3: Groups Management Rules

  Here I am just taking Douban as an example and I am not blaming it for anything. What exactly Douban has done and why it has blacklisted these groups, people don’t know. But for sure Douban had no other choice and was in a difficult situation.

  Douban users are called douyou, or bean oil (homonym of bean friends). They even launched a “Dress the Famous Paintings Campaign” to protest the deletion of those world-famous paintings with nudity. My dear readers, you should check it out yourself. Seeing it yourself is a hundred times better than hearing from others.

  As for “Grass Mud Horse”, I applaud the one who invented such a pun. Its underlining tone is: I know you do not allow me to say certain things. See, I am completely cooperative, right? Of course I think it inappropriate to utter these obscene words. I need not to demean myself below some level because of you. Even if you force me to say those words, I won’t comply. I want to keep my decency and dignity. Even if you retreat to a barbarian level, I am going to keep my identity as a civilized person. You gonna tell me I can’t do that? So, I say “Grass Mud Horse”, not fxxx your mom. What is “Grass Mud Horse”? It always works hard in harsh conditions. See, it is from the vast grassland. I like it. I love it. This whole thing is too far away from you, out of your jurisdiction. Oh well, why are you always staring at me? Am I not perfectly fine? I am innocent. I have not been snatched away by some crooked folks. I have not been put under their control. And I am not vulgar. Why do you have to worry so much about me?

  I am singing a cute children’s song – I AM A GRASS MUD HORSE! Even though it is heard by the entire world, you can’t say I’ve broken the law.

  Oiwan Lam of the Global Voices also published a post: More on Grass Mud Horse:

  Netizen 1.5 pointed out that “Grass Mud Horse” emerged as a “ridiculous” popular term, is actually a collective conscious of netizens for sending out the signal: the ruling elites has fallen into the trap of Tacitus in the eye of netizens. The ruling elites have the power to see without seeing, but for the netizens, they believe that “river crabs will disappear from the Ma La Desert”.

  Anthropologist, Guo Yuhua (郭于华 ), also joined in the discussion and used James Scott’s “weapons of the weak” and “hidden transcript” to elaborate the meaning of “Grass Mud Horse” phenomena:

  Political spoof is a helpless move, an expression of frustration. However, it is also the “weapons of the weak”, an expression of the grassroots. They are not the powerful, and are not in control of the “public transcript”. For them, open, appropriate and free expression has been blocked, and they can only use the “weapon of the weak” to create “hidden transcript”. We shouldn’t underestimate this kind of “Grass Mud Horse” expression, as it is a sign of free choice: either to become a silent and tamed goat or to become a “brave and stubborn” “Grass Mud Horse”.

  We shouldn’t be pessimistic about this kind of expression. Scott’s research told us that, the intersection of public and hidden transcript is a contesting space between the dominated and the subordinated. It is not an unmovable wall. Through the hidden transcript, the subordinated class can create a social space, which in itself is an achievement. The “Grass Mud Horse”, which are deprived of expression space, could not expect the space to be given, it is only through struggle that they can preserve the space, the process is most important.

  Lastly I want to point out that we shouldn’t be offended by “Grass Mud Horse” vulgar and cheap expression, nor should we question elegant intellectuals like Cui Weiping’s decision to join in the political spoof by using the term. The logic and message is very clear here: If the government is not messing up, the people won’t do the same; if the upper rank elites don’t Zhe-teng (torment), the subordinated won’t do the same; if the “river crabs” are not vulgar, the “Grass Mud Horse” won’t be vulgar.

  Writer Chen Xingzhi (陈行之) also joined this discussion here:

  We have reason to believe that the creation of the grass-mud horse (草泥马) is a serious parody. It is more serious than any other political and social topics.

  If our politicians have any quality, they should see something terrifying within this phenomenon.

  The following Youtube video is an animated version of the Song of the Grass-Mud Horse:

  » Read more
  • March 1, 2009 11:31 PM

• Poem: Blogging is My Performance Art - Zhang Daozheng 张道正

  

  The “grass-mud horse (草泥马)” has now become the icon of online resistance to censorship. It seems that everywhere the “river crabs (河蟹)” go, the “grass-mud horses” grow in numbers. Here is another example: Blogger, independent film maker and poet Zhang Daozheng was born in 1982, graduated from Shandong University of Arts and is a member of the Chinese Communist Party (according to baike.baidu.com). He wrote the following poem on his Sina blog (Warning: NSFW):

  » Read more
  • February 24, 2009 11:04 PM

• Rebecca MacKinnon and Evgeny Morozov : Firewalls to Freedom

  

  From the guatemala-times.com:

  Whenever manipulation efforts fail, cyber-attacks offer yet another powerful tool to crack down on dissent without triggering public accusations of formal censorship. This is what happened to a Georgian (known by the screen name cyxymu) who used his blog on LiveJournal to criticize how both governments handled last summer’s war. A series of cyber-attacks followed, and was so devastating that the entire service - with its millions of other blogs - crashed, forcing LiveJournal administrators to delete his account temporarily.

  As contemporary authoritarian regimes learn how to manage and engineer information flows, we must understand that promoting and protecting free speech in places like China and Russia is not a simple matter of “tearing down the wall.” Given these governments’ complex strategies for regulating what their citizens do online - ranging from establishing effective control of private media and telecoms businesses to allowing people to blow off steam without going too far - we should be more realistic about the true extent of the Internet’s transformational potential.

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  • February 24, 2009 9:37 PM

• Beijing Is Blocking Many Catholic Websites: Is This How You Fight Pornography?

  

  From AsiaNews:

  The Chinese authorities continue to block many Catholic websites, like Radio Veritas of Asia, the website of the Chinese Regional Bishops’ Conference, all of the Catholic sites of Taiwan, and those of the diocese of Hong Kong. The government says that it wants to fight pornography on the internet, but it is systematically taking measures against sites with no pornographic content, which however present information not entirely in harmony with the version of the Communist Party.

  The systematic censorship of Catholic sites in Taiwan even goes “against the tide” with respect to the tremendous improvement underway in relations between Beijing and Taipei.

  The website AsiaNews has been blocked on an on-again, off-again basis for years, and was not made visible even during the Olympic grace period. The website Reporters Without Borders, very critical of China during the Olympics, was also blocked for months.

  » Read more
  • February 19, 2009 2:34 AM

• Rebecca MacKinnon: China’s Censorship 2.0: How Companies Censor Bloggers

  

  Rebecca MacKinnon has published a new report on corporate censorship of bloggers in China. The full report is available here. From the abstract:

  This study explores an under-studied layer of Chinese Internet censorship: how Chinese Internet companies censor user–generated content, usually by deleting it or preventing its publication. Systematic testing of Chinese blog service providers reveals that domestic censorship is very decentralized with wide variation from company to company. Test results also showed that a great deal of politically sensitive material survives in the Chinese blogosphere, and that chances for its survival can likely be improved with knowledge and strategy. The study concludes that choices and actions by private individuals and companies can have a significant impact on the overall balance of freedom and control in the Chinese blogosphere.

  » Read more
  • February 13, 2009 12:28 PM

• Chinese Learn Limits of Online Freedom as the Filter Tightens

  

  Andrew Jacobs from The New York Times writes:

  While some see the monthlong crackdown as a portent of increasing government restrictions on electronic expression, those who follow China’s evolving relationship with the Internet say it is too soon to tell.

  “The authorities tighten the screws every few months, and some periods are tighter than others, so this is nothing new,” said Xiao Qiang, director of the China Internet Project at the University of California, Berkeley.

  But the wild card this time, Mr. Xiao and others say, is an economic downturn that has the potential to put the Communist Party’s oversight of online content to a new test. For years, China has tried to strike a balance between allowing vigorous growth of the Web and preventing it from becoming a tool for undermining party rule. But popular anger against official corruption or ineptitude may become harder to contain in an era of economic pain.

  » Read more
  • February 4, 2009 9:49 PM

• Work Program for the National Campaign to Curb the Trend of Internet Indecency

  

  William Farris has translated the official order for the ongoing anti-pornography and indecency campaign from the Beijing Communications Administration. The original document is here; the full translation is here. According to the document, the first Primary Duty of the campaign is:

  Focus on cleansing and curbing online indecency content. Focus on carrying out an examination for the following 13 aspects of indecent content based on a standard of whether it is contrary to social morality and detrimental to the physical and mental health of the youth:

  1. Blatant or veiled displays of sexual behavior, and content that produces sexual associations in people’s minds, is provocative, or is degrading;
  2. Direct exposure or depiction of human genitalia;
  3. Language that describes or is sexually suggestive or provocative with respect to sexual activities, sexual processes, or sexual methods;
  4. Description, exposure, or only slight coverage of genitalia;
  5. Full nudity, unclothed private parts, and private parts that are only covered by human limbs;
  6. Content that violates personal privacy by showing underwear, nudity, or exposed private parts where the subject was unaware they were being photographed;
  7. Solicitation of clicks through provocative titles;
  8. Pornography, indecent fiction, and audio and video content, including some censored scenes from full-length movies that are prohibited by relevant government agencies;
  9. Information regarding immoral relationships such as those involving one night stands, wife swapping, and sado-masochism;
  10. Erotic animation;
  11. Content that promotes bloody violence, malicious invectives, insults to others, etc.;
  12. Advertisements for illicit “sex drugs” and treatments for sexually transmitted diseases;
  13. Maliciously disseminating personal private information without the subject’s permission or through the use of “human flesh searches.”

  » Read more
  • February 2, 2009 12:05 AM

• Chinese Bloggers’ Respond to the Internet Crackdown

  

  The Chinese government has launched a new wave of the ongoing Internet crackdown against vulgar and pornographic content. Many Chinese bloggers have reacted strongly to the campaign; here are some samples of their reactions. Translated by CDT:

  A web editor/blogger of the online China Petroleum magazine had the following experience recently, and wrote this post on his website, titled “First-class information surveillance and interception system reminds you!”

  When I saw the words above, I was furious. My limbs went cold and my whole body was trembling. What the hell is this “first-class information surveillance and interception system reminds you”? This line drove me absolutely bonkers on the Chinese New Year! Today I visited my previous blog, which mainly links to my Internet friends’ sites. It was ok for me to log on to the front page, but whatever I clicked on, I got the following message: “First-class information surveillance and interception system reminds you: We are very sorry. The operation is invalid because the content you submitted or visited contained keywords not permitted by the system or your IP was proscribed from visiting. The system has recorded your IP and the data you submitted. Please note, do not submit any content that violates national regulations. The relevant information for this interception is: the webpage uses GZIP compression.”

  I didn’t type in any content that violates national regulations. I don’t expect the luxury of enjoying the freedom of speech as stated in the constitution, but how have I violated national regulations by not discussing politics and just writing some professional notes and essays? It is insane, completely beyond my comprehension. Even if I have violated the rules, at least please kindly tell me which part is problematic. I can’t make sense of the message at all. I am totally puzzled.

  Blogger Jiongrenzijiong wrote: The current emperor is wise and uses both guns on the table and arrows underneath.

  The recent developments have been quite interesting. The emperor’s court moved to rectify low-taste websites and during the process strangled some websites of conscience as well. Those intellectuals who have a faith in freedom certainly would not be resigned. They went as far as issuing an open letter to advocate a boycott of CCTV. You attacked their instrument for expression; they hit back at your instrument for expression. It is the so-called reciprocity. “Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.” It is indeed a tried-and-true axiom. But I can predict that it will not be that easy to boycott our imperial broadcaster. It will definitely announce things like its Lunar New Year Eve gala show’s rating was over 90 percent and more than 80 percent of the viewers like it. And you cohorts of mutineers and traitors advocating the boycott will be rounded up on charges related to pornography, or organized crimes, or subverting state power. It’s not hard to find a proper charge.

  In the past, the emperor’s court has established the “reporting center for illegal and harmful web information.” The current emperor was not broadly collecting frank suggestions and criticisms, but broadly embedding informants across the country. After that, Boxun News reported that police officers were stationed in offices set up by the government in major Internet content providers and service providers（Log on with proxy）.

  The two moves have informants and regulators, intimidation and instruction, arrows underneath and guns on the table, estrangement and rape, extermination and prevention. Obviously the harsh winter for liberalism is just around the corner. Those who have the ability to resist, please resist. Those who don’t have the ability, become part of the silent majority or turn yourself in.

  PS: One more grudge – If being able to speak can be called freedom of speech, then in China’s 5,000-year history (let’s assume it’s exactly 5,000 years), except the three years under the Li emperor of Zhou Dynasty when no one was allowed to speak, isn’t it true that there has been freedom of speech in the remaining 4,997 years?

  Also from Jiongrenzijiong:

  What else do we have when romance and sex become taboo topics?

  The censors’ rationale is understandable. Hasn’t that declaration letter signed by thousands and spread exponentially across the country at the end of last year unnerved royalties, ministers and eunuchs from their midnight dreams? That’s the very reason why the incumbent sovereign rebuked the “stray path of changing banners” and admonished rebellious citizens not to roil things up. A glance at the calendar will tell you that those dates in the year ahead, if roiled up, won’t have any difficulty in matching the eventfulness of last year. If I were in their position, I would also have been thinking about how to snuff out the spark.

  I heard many commentators say the campaign was actually aimed at striking “instigators” under the disguise of rooting out pornography. It is hard for us short-sighted and ignorant subjects to guess the emperor’s intentions. But if it is really using this force to target something else, as pointed out by some people, I can’t help laughing at the stupidity of the current emperor. Think about it, “not to discuss state affairs” has been a long-established rule under this dynasty. To allow people to talk about romance and sex has been a great tactic to keep them away from discussing politics. Now that romance and sex are banned, what else can we talk about next?

  Fully Drunk Dolphin is a former Bulloger. He is now still blogging on more than one blog platforms, both in and outside of China. He shared some thoughts on independent blogging here:

  1. One independent blog alone is not enough. There needs to be a backup site overseas as a full version and there needs to be one within China for the convenience of domestic users.
  …
  4. I am not a wealthy person, but I belong to the social stratus that needs not worry about food and clothing. So I’d like to play a little bit with the Great Firewall with the money I save on new shoes and clothes during the Chinese New Year. If I get blocked, I can brag about it: look, how influential I am! They blocked my IP! It is an independent IP and I was not incriminated by some pornographic site.

  5.Writing blogs is to express a kind of dignity. I have something to say and you are not allowing me to, but I’ll go on and say it. You have no guts to take us on in debates and elections. It is your shame to shut down blogs, not mine.

  6. Thank God for not making China into a super powerful country. If China’s powerful enough to order the American government to close my blog account, I wonder if those “patriotic youth” will jump and cheer.

  7. Independent blog. It is not enough that the blog is independent. People have to be independent as well. I write blogs to make friends, not to be a mentor. Those who ask me to change my writing style to suite their reading tastes – I have no interest in communicating with them, because I write in my own style to attract like-minded people as friends, not to court those who don’t like me.

  8. It is better to have a handful of smart readers than to have 1.3 billion retarded fans.

  » Read more
  • January 29, 2009 11:09 PM

• The Real Significance of a “Human-Flesh Search Engines” for “Chen Hua”

  

  The following commentary is from overseas Chinese news site boxun.com, translated by CDT’s Lucy Lin:

  A post about the corruption situation titled, “What Kind of Communist is Mr. Chen Hua?,” circulated throughout the Internet today. While this article has essentially been removed from domestic websites, it is still circulating on foreign websites.

  The article was signed, “Zhang Tao,” which is made up by taking one character from the names of two Beijing Internet Management Department Chiefs. The article’s description of how Chen Hua is fond of alcohol and talks a lot after drinking, as well as his vehicles, properties, and bank deposits, all accord with Chen Hua’s current situation. The author should have a relatively good understanding of Chen Hua and could probably be an internal staff member of Beijing Internet Management Department or a staff member from another web company under the jurisdiction of Chen Hua, who had opportunities to be in contact with Chen Hua. The fanfare over the Beijing News Management office’s recent crackdown on vulgar content has caused hardships for a lot of Beijing websites. It’s more likely that someone from some website may be retaliating.

  It is certainly unfair for the people who are mentioned in the post that the contents of the article were not verified before its release on the Internet. However, for Chen Hua or anyone else who is part of this information-controlling, autocratic regime, this kind of method is acceptable. The Chen Hua here should not be regarded as a specific person, but rather as a spare part in China’s media control machine.

  It’s credible that no one has the power to confront a system as large as an autocratic government. However, using the current Internet platform, people can still do something about the situation by targeting specific objects within the system. For example, they can mobilize a “human-flesh search engine” for Chen Hua or other people and share their resulting information with the public.

  » Read more
  • January 26, 2009 11:51 PM

• Evgeny Morozov: To Stop Dissent, Call It Smut

  

  Written by Evgeny Morozov, a fellow at the Open Society Institute, from Newsweek:

  China kicked off the New Year with another crackdown on the Internet. A government-supported entity—the Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center, tasked with finding and fighting online content that violates the law—began by informing 19 popular Web sites, including Google and Baidu, China’s two leading search engines, that they contain “vulgar content that violates social morality and damages the physical and mental health of youths.” Only a few days later, they expanded their blacklist to 91 sites, including MSN and MySpace, demanding that they all take action to remove the offensive content. By last week more than 1,250 Web sites had been closed down and 41 people arrested. The crackdown singled out galleries of scantily clad women on tiexue.com and videos on vodone.com, as well as Google searches with links to anything that could be deemed racy. On the same day, People’s Daily, an official outlet, posted paparazzi photos of the Chinese celebrity Zhang Ziyi in a bikini at the beach. The Web site of Xinhua News Agency has also run a slide show called “China’s Hottest Babes.”

  Hypocrisy aside, calls by authoritarian regimes to curb vulgarity are often a smoke screen for the stifling of political dissent. Iran recently included several sites critical of the government on a blacklist of more than 100,000 pornographic sites, and a study by the OpenNet Initiative, a university consortium that tracks Internet filtering around the globe, found that Vietnam censors politically sensitive content along with obscenity. China’s current crackdown is no exception. Bullog.cn, an edgy Chinese bloglike platform that often irked the Chinese authorities by reporting on controversial events like protests against new chemical plants, is one openly political victim of the current purges. Rebecca MacKinnon, an expert on the Chinese Internet at the University of Hong Kong, writes that “historically in China … the technology used to censor porn has ended up being used more vigorously to censor political content,” and this appears to be the case again now. The thaw in anticipation of the Olympics, in which politically damaging sites like those of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch were allowed to publish unhindered, may now be nearing its end.

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  • January 25, 2009 6:46 AM

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