Internet-censorship

Internet censorshipby EditorialChinas internet censors have been working overtime again. PC makers have been told to add internet filtering software to every machine sold in the country from Wednesday and Google has been ordered to cut off access to foreign websites from its local Chinese service.Though done in the name of fighting pornography, these measures would also give the censors far greater powers to limit information and communication they find politically inconvenient.The trade complaint that the US levelled last week against the PC software, Green Dam-Youth Escort, represents one welcome development in the resistance to censorship. Chinas clampdown on the free flow of information has often smacked of protectionism. No doubt that reflects a view in Beijing that local technology suppliers and internet companies will be more compliant when the censors call, and makes it all the more important that China is held to its international obligations.The order to put Green Dam on to every PC puts manufacturers in the position of having to load untested, allegedly insecure software on to their machines and could expose them to extra service and liability costs. Anything like this that makes it harder for foreign PC makers or internet companies to do business inside China, or that may favour local competitors, should rightly be resisted.But unless there is a change of heart in Beijing, the buck, ultimately, will stop with the companies themselves. As Googles latest troubles in China show, appeasing the censors to gain market access something it did by acceding to self-censorship when it set up a local search service does not buy immunity. Google appears to have resisted the latest demand from Beijing. That it is showing signs of standing up to the bullying is a welcome development.PC makers now face a similar decision about whether to submit to demands to carry the invasive Green Dam software. The demand could be a first step towards turning PCs, which have played a central role in the information revolution, into clients of the state.There is still time for Beijing to have a change of heart. It should realise that a country that aspires to join the modern information economy cannot afford the chilling effect of slapping restrictive software on every personal computer. But if it does not relent, foreign computer makers should draw a line at this unwarranted extension of government information control and refuse to go along.Chinas Internet CensorshipInternet sites on democracy, Tibet and Taiwan were among Web destinations most frequently blocked by the Chinese government, a study of Chinese online access shows.Researchers at Harvard Law Schools Berkman Center for Internet & Society said Tuesday that other sites blocked included those on health, education, news, entertainment, religion and pornography.Ben Edelman, a Berkman researcher, and Jonathan Zittrain, the centers co-director, checked more than 204,000 Web sites, identified in part using search engines Google and Yahoo!, and found more than 19,000 inaccessible at least some of the time.The top 10 Google results using the key words “Tibet,“ “Taiwan China“ and “equality“ were all blocked, as were eight of the top 10 results using “democracy China“ and “dissident China.“Seven of the top 10 were blocked using “Taiwan“ alone and “revolution.“China has been trying to combat independence movements in Tibet and considers Taiwan its territory. Democracy and human rights have also been politically sensitive topics for the communist government.The country often blocks an entire Web site, even if only parts of the site contain sensitive information, Edelman said.For instance, it blocks several sites for leading U.S. universities, including Columbia University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Edelman noted that the blocked university sites host campus pro-democracy groups. One, MIT, also hosts scrambling software that makes e-mail unreadable to censors.According to a test Tuesday using Berkmans tools, The Associated Press also found that Berkmans site was inaccessible in China, though Harvards site was reachable. Edelman said the Berkman site had been available before the censorship report was posted.Edelman said the center launched the research because few specifics were available about Internet censorship in China, though China is widely known to control its residents access.“People often ask us and ask others, what is it thats blocked in China?“ Edelman said. “For that kind of a person, we found that producing a list of blocked sites was helpful.“The availability of sites in China were tested first by dialing from Berkmans offices in Cambridge, Mass., the phone numbers of several modems used by Chinese service provider