[governance] Russia plans to create independent web / internet

[yehudakatz at mailinator.com]

RE:
   Ralf Bendrath et.al.:
   Louis Pouzin /
   gov at wsis-gov.org; 
   gov-bounces at wsis-gov.org;
   linguistk at googlegroups.com

> Does anybody know more about this?
> The text also mentions China's gated internet, 
--

Reporters Without Borders:
Journey to the Heart of Internet Censorship
China | 10.10.2007
© Reporters Without Borders 2007 - 47, rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris - France


A “Journey to the Heart of Internet censorship” on eve of party congress 

In partnership with Reporters Without Borders and Chinese Human Rights
Defenders, a 

Chinese Internet expert working in IT industry has produced an exclusive study
on the 

key mechanism of the Chinese official system of online censorship, surveillance
and 

propaganda. The author prefers to remain anonymous.

On the eve of the 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),
which 

opens this week in Beijing, Reporters Without Borders and the Chinese Human
Rights 

Defenders call on the government to allow the Chinese to exercise their rights
to 

freedom of press, expression and information.

“This system of censorship is unparalleled anywhere in the world and is an
insult to 

the spirit of online freedom,” the two organisations said. “With less than a
year to 

go before the Beijing Olympics, there is an urgent need for the government to
stop 

blocking thousands of websites, censoring online news and imprisoning Internet 

activists.”

This report shows how the CCP and the government have deployed colossal human
and 

financial resources to obstruct online free expression. Chinese news websites
and 

blogs have been brought under the editorial control of the propaganda apparatus
at 

both the national and local levels.

The use of the Internet keeps growing in China. The country now has more than
160 

million Internet users and at least 1.3 million websites. But the Internet’s
promise 

of free expression and information has been nipped in the bud by the Chinese 

government’s online censorship and surveillance system.

“Journey to the Heart of Internet Censorship” explains how this control system 

functions and identifies its leading actors such the Internet Propaganda 

Administrative Bureau (an offshoot of the Information Office of the State
Council, the 

executive office of the government), the Bureau of Information and Public
Opinion (an 

offshoot of the party’s Publicity Department, the former Propaganda Department)
and 

the Internet Bureau (another Publicity Department offshoot).

The report also documents how the Beijing Internet Information Administrative
Bureau 

has in practice asserted its daily editorial control over the leading news
websites 

based in the nation’s Capital. It gives many examples of the actual
instructions 

issued by officials in charge of this bureau.

The last part of the report gives the results of a series of tests conducted
with the 

mechanism of control through filtering keywords. These tests clearly show that,
though 

there are still many disparities in the levels of censorship, the authorities
have 

successfully coerced the online media into submission to censor themselves
heavily on 

sensitive subjects.

This report recommends using proxy servers, exploiting the different levels of 

censorship between provinces or between levels in the administration and using
new 

Internet technologies (blogs, discussion forums, Internet telephony etc.)

Download the full report

Ref.:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=23924

Print:
http://www.rsf.org/print.php3?id_article=23924 

Report PDF:
http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/Voyage_au_coeur_de_la_censure_GB.pdf

-

ALSO

Re:
> but also refers to a similar thing 
> "in development in the Arab countries".

SEE:
List of the 13 Internet enemies

Article:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19603

Print:
http://www.rsf.org/print.php3?id_article=19603

THE INTERNET "BLACK HOLES" [Map Image]
http://www.rsf.org/IMAGES/une/fr/internet/carte-trous-noirs06.jpg

---

> -------- Original-Nachricht --------
> From: Ralf Bendrath <bendrath at zedat.fu-berlin.de>
>
> Does anybody know more about this?
> The text also mentions China's gated internet, 
> but also refers to a similar thing 
> "in development in the Arab countries".
> Any info on the latter?
> 
> Best, Ralf

---
End
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