From the Wall Street Journal, via Slashdot:

Can China really control the Internet?

It has launched a new bid to try. In an effort to crack down on the information access and activities of China’s 100 million Internet users, the Chinese government is imposing new regulations that will attempt to centralize all China-based Web news and opinion under a state regulator…

The announcement of the new laws follows a broader Chinese crackdown on television and other media. The move appears to be aimed at imposing order over news that Beijing doesn’t like. In part, that is a response to the rapid development of a vibrant media scene rife with sensationalist, and sometimes inaccurate, news, but it also grants authorities more power to stifle nascent pro-democracy movements.

CDT has received a rough translation of the new regulations. The Chinese text is here, via Xinhua.