Chinese online censorship 'the most sophisticated in the world'

By Steve Malone

Posted on 15 Apr 2005 at 10:37

China's Internet filtering regime is 'the most sophisticated effort of its kind in the world' according to a new report by the Open Net Initiative.

The OpenNet Initiative is a partnership of universities, including Cambridge University, that seeks to test and evaluate the methods and extent of censorship of electronic media throughout the world. During the examination of Chinese repression, the ONI tested China's Internet filtering of web content, blog postings, and email correspondences. The tests found that the authorities tried to prevent access to a wide range of content ranging from pornography to religious material to political dissent.

The report highlights the other side to China's technological advance as it seeks to become an economic superpower while cracking down on any sign of dissent at home. The report says that compared to similar censorship in other countries, China's filtering regime is 'pervasive, sophisticated, and effective'.

The ONI demonstrates the lengths to which the Chinese government seeks to limit the activities of its citizens. Chinese Internet regulation involves many levels of legal regulation and technical control involving numerous state agencies and thousands of public and private personnel. The censorship permeates through all types of online communications, websites, blogs, discussion forums, bulletin boards and email.

As part of its investigation, the ONI found blocks are put on any content that the Chinese government views as potentially subversive. This includes references to Taiwan and Tibetan independence, Falun Gong, the Dalai Lama, the Tiananmen Square incident, opposition political parties, or anti-Communist movements

The ONI admits that the extent and sophistication of China's content filtering makes it difficult to work out exactly how it is carried out. The filtering occurs at various control points and appears to be dynamic. However, the ONI estimates that filtering takes place primarily at the backbone level of China's network, though the country's ISPs also implement their own blocking.

In addition, the Chinese search engines filter content by keyword and censor the search
results. Similarly, Chinese blog services filter posts containing certain keywords or simply remove them.

Finally, cybercafes are required by law to track Internet usage by customers and to keep the information on file for up to 60 days.