From Business Week:
Given the global admiration that China’s economic ascendancy inspires abroad these days, it’s easy to forget the mainland is run by a one-party state with a near-obsessive need to control sensitive information. It is both a 21st century economic phenomenon“and a massive surveillance state. And if you doubt that Big Brother lives on in contemporary China, take a closer look at the sweeping rollback of press freedoms in recent years.
Under Chinese president Hu Jintao, mainland journalists have been fired or jailed over stories they have published, while Beijing has stepped up efforts to shut down Web sites and expand high-tech monitoring of Internet search engines, e-mails, and blogs. The latest tightening of the information tourniquet: On Sept. 10, Beijing put in place a ban on the direct sale of financial information from international media organizations such as Reuters and Bloomberg to mainland banks and corporate customers. [Full text]
