Chinese Protectionism = Internet Filters/Blockers?

[WhiskeyGirl]

All this talk about trade wars and stimulus packages.

Obama has indicated that he sees American businesses competing over the internet with businesses all over the globe.

How would anyone in China, probably the biggest global market, find any American business with all the internet filtering of the Chinese government?  Is this a new kind of protectionism?  Filter/block everything?

The incident has provoked howls among China's so-called netizens, who say it is another example of the Communist Party's heavy-handed oversight of the web. Since early January, the government has been waging a decency campaign that has closed more than 1,500 websites found to contain sex, violence or "vulgarity." Numerous other sites, including Google, have responded by removing any pages that might offend puritanical sensibilities.

But indecency is often in the eye of the beholder. Last month, Bullog, a popular bastion for freewheeling bloggers, was shut down for what the authorities said were its "large amounts of harmful information on current events," according to a notice posted by the site's founder, Luo Yonghao. When Luo briefly resuscitated the site on Sunday using an overseas server, it was blocked again.

Many people here believe that Bullog may have crossed a line by posting information about Charter 08, an online petition calling for democratic reforms. Organisers say the manifesto has garnered thousands of signatures since its introduction in December. Within the Chinese Internet firewall, it is now nearly impossible to find a copy.

"All this Internet discourse has not brought China closer to democracy than it was 10 years ago," said MacKinnon, whose expertise includes Chinese bloggers and Internet censorship.

(snip)

"One can make the argument that the Internet enables the Communist Party to remain in power longer because it provides a space for people to air grievances without allowing real change," she said. — NYT

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/world/17729-chinese-learn-limits-of-online-freedom-as-the-filter-tightens

[WhiskeyGirl]

China is tough on porn and applies filters that work!  Good job.  Maybe there are some lessons for the U.S. family computer.

Certainly the pornography industry is a lucrative business. The top four countries who sell the most pornography are, in order: China, South Korea, Japan and the United States. These four nations account for $84 billion of a $97 billion worldwide industry. Incidentally, child pornography worldwide accounts for $3 billion annually.

By the way, every second over $3,000 is being spent on porn which is about what was being spent on the Iraq war by the U.S. government. From a 2006 survey from Family Safe the top 10 cities for porn Internet searches are not Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York but rather smaller tier cites with Louisville ranking No. 5 and Elmhurst, Ill., as No. 1.

http://www.newsandtribune.com/opinion/local_story_034215012.html?keyword=topstory

China has shut down up to 1,507 such Web sites since the anti-porn campaign was launched on Jan. 5. More than 70 Web sites, including major Internet portals such as Sina, MSN China and search engines Google, Baidu, have been given warnings to remove pornography, which is illegal in China.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/03/content_10753160.htm

Aussies chime in -

SYDNEY, Australia - A proposed Internet filter dubbed the "Great Aussie Firewall" is promising to make Australia one of the strictest Internet regulators among democratic countries.

The list of prohibited sites, which the government isn't making public, is arbitrary and not subject to legal scrutiny, Smith said, leaving it to the government or lawmakers to pursue their own online agendas.

..."A filter of this nature only blocks material on public Web sites. But illicit material ... is traded on the black market, through secret channels."

Australia's proposal is less severe than controls in Egypt and Iran, where bloggers have been imprisoned; in North Korea, where there is virtually no Internet access; or in China, which has a pervasive filtering system.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.australia11jan11,0,5615588.story

Yes, the internet is the way for hardworking American business to compete with the rest of the world...

Would anyone in the U.S. or elsewhere ever know what political filters block?  Who's on the forbidden list?  Isn't free trade for the U.S. wonderful?

jmho

[WhiskeyGirl]

Here are some details of internet blocking for China - (and other nations)

http://opennet.net/research/profiles/china

If they're blocking news and information sites, are they also blocking advertisements?  How will American's sell goods to China over the internet if the ads and sites are blocked?

imho