Chinese Internet Censorship

Censorship in the People’s Republic of China is defined by the suppressing or restrictions of publications. Chinese Internet Censorship is implemented and enforced through the People’s Republic of China’s ruling body, the Communist Party of China.

The censorship of the media is to prevent the masses viewing something that the Communist Party of China does not wish then to view. Their control expands over the television, radio, newspapers and the internet.

The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs class the media situation that extends to the internet as being “very serious”. They have ranked the government of China among the worst.

The Communist Party of China censors the internet as a way of control. Censorships help to prevent any reformist or rebellions from taking place, or at least helps to minimise this risk.

In February 2009, Li Dongdong, General Administration of Press and Publication, introduced an array of regulations that would govern journalists. Any one who opposed or contravened these laws would be placed on a list and be unable to continue to work as a member of the press. These were designed, so Li Dongdong announced to “to a halt to fake news”. The editor of China Youth Daily criticised the new regulations and was later dismissed for opposing the censor.

Chinese Internet Censorship – some Stats

According to a study carried out by Harvard University, there are over 18,000 websites which are blocked and banned within the People’s Republic of China.

52 cyber dissidents have been imprisoned for their online communications. This is a worrying fact and one where it is clear to see the extent of which some countries will go to, to ensure total control through censorship.

In recent months, discussions and negotiations have taken place to reduce the number of barred websites; Yahoo, Wikipedia and YouTube to name a few, and restrictions on these have been relaxed, although with limitations.

In has been suggested that by banning and restricting the internet access to mainland China, it helps to ensure that their own e-commerce industry booms.

There is also an issue of self-censorship within the internet debate. As some companies from Hong Kong are opting to regulate themselves by the guidelines decreed from the Communist Part of China. This giving them an opportunity to expand in an unsaturated e-commerce industry, this obviously is advantageous for the company, but it does raise some moral questions as to whether regulating themselves in this manner advocated the Republic of China’s regime and the impact that this is having on the inhabitants ability of freedom of speech.

The Internet Censorship Debate

As with most things are life, there are always positive and negatives. This is especially the case with the Internet and leads almost inevitably to the Internet Censorship Debate.

It is inarguable that the internet has changed the world. It has made the way we research easier; we have the wonders of the world at our finger tips; delight and desires realised at the touch of a button and it has revolutionised the way we shop and keep in touch with one another. This is especially helpful for those in remote places who long to keep connected to the rest of the world.

But there are negatives to the World Wide Web. It is now easier to access inappropriate material and the internet is a scouring ground for criminals to prey on the young and vulnerable.

As the internet has become more mainstream and embraced by society, the powers that be have censored the internet. All countries have some form of censorship imposed upon them; some may be rather lax whilst others take firm control over what can be viewed over the World Wide Web.

No one is disputing that the internet can be a dangerous place full of uncertainties. But the level of censorship that government applies can be questioned.

Within certain countries the internet is totally restricted, the government decides what can and can not be viewed. Impossible, I hear you cry! But it is true. In these countries the government control all computers that have internet connection capability. Now, this obviously is the extreme of internet censorship.

But the government will obviously always argue that censorship is for the good and the welfare of the public. Protecting the young and the vulnerable is the reason for censorship. Yet, when there are no clear definitions of what is offensive or harmful, and then the debate flares. internet censorship debate Internet censored

The reason that there is such a debate over internet safety is down to the impact that this censorship has over the basic human right of Free Speech.

Some argue that censorship of the internet limits free speech and this goes against basic human rights. This is true, however there are laws relating to Free Speech that concern speech when it id classed as harmful, offensive or insights hate.

The problem arises, however, when considering what is classed as offensive. Everyone has a different view point built up by their own beliefs and experiences. If the internet was censored due to what every person found offensive, I doubt that there would be anything left.

This is where the internet debate begins to get stuck. Depending on the individual’s viewpoint depends on whether internet censorship is a positive or negative regime.

UK Internet Censorship

The United Kingdom has a quiet relaxed approach to the internet and censorship compared with other countries.

The main area of censorship within the United Kingdom related to images of child abuse. This clearly is something that the general public do not want to see and so there are not a lot of problems with this side of censorship. If a site has been blocked for containing these images, rather than a warning sign being displayed, there will just simply be a sign saying “error”.

So how does UK Internet Censorship Work?

The United Kingdom is censored through a filter called “cleanfeed” which uses data provided by the Internet Watch Foundation to ensure that any banned sites are inaccessible.

The Internet Watch Foundation is a nongovernmental charitable body which offers an online service for the general public.

The role of the Internet Watch Foundation is to report any materials found on the net that are offensive. The group work in conjunction with the police to ensure that the filter and the people responsible for such violations are stopped.

The Internet Watch Foundation was originally set up to focus on the organisations that produce and post child pornography. Recently they have had their remit expanded to cover any posts on the internet that were deemed racist or criminally obscene.

The Internet Watch Foundation are run independently and mostly by volunteers. This is to reduce the possibility of corruption. The Internet Watch Foundation collates all websites that have any material that fall into the aforementioned areas and put them on a blacklist, preventing them from being viewed in the United Kingdom.

In recent years there have been some incidents of UK Internet censorship that have had implications upon the Internet.

One of which being the murder case of Baby Peter, a 17 month old baby. In 2008 and 2009, the media was barred from publishing the names of the people involved in the case, both those accused of his murder and those who should have spotted the neglect. The explanation behind this was to protect the case and the witnesses as fears of reprisals from the general public who were outraged to learn of the murder.

Any websites found to be publishing the names of defendants and the child was subjected to a police investigation for trying to initiate a hate campaign.

This made some of the media, and general public, question just how free speech is in the United Kingdom, and whether the true reason was to protect the case or to protect those who were neglectful of their duty of care towards the child. The presumption is that the UK is a fairly liberal society but maybe UK Internet Censorship is not as relaxed as we imagine.

Blocked Websites Everywhere you Surf

You might not believe it but censorship is rife on the internet. I’m not talking about illegal and criminal stuff either. The social sites like wordpress, youtube, facebook and any where else that people can speak their mind and voice their opinions. Of course if you live in a country who likes to control how people think, then they will always have a problem with sites like these.

You might be surprised about how many web sites have been blocked across the world – check out the wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship. It’s definitely gathering pace as the internet becomes the medium of choice for citizens all over the world.

It’s kinda sad that we can’t even be treated equally online, where as most democratic countries allow pretty much unrestricted access to the internet apart from obviously criminal sites when they can block them. In places like China, Thailand, Burma and the like you’ll have thousands of websites blocked. No facebook, youtube for those guys, increasingly the countries are taking charge of their ISPs and running themselves, which makes bypassing their restrictions even more difficult. Sure you can use proxies, but the open, free ones soon get blocked anyway and obviously have their own security difficulties. (as many of them are run by individuals and organisations with their own agendas!)