Policy primer
- 1. Policy Primer Internet Censorship: The Great Firewall of China Presented by Michael Natoli
- 2. Another Great Wall of China? • ‘The Great Firewall’ was coined by Wired magazine in 1997 (Runkel, 2010) • Unlike the Great Wall of China, the Great Firewall of China is not a physical structure! Figure 1. Great Wall of China Facts (Lehnardt, 2016)
- 3. What is the ‘Great Firewall’? • An attempt to help ‘purify’ the internet in China through censorship of foreign websites • Part of China’s “Golden Shield Project” which aims to block or monitor internet content and usage as defined by the State (James, 2009) Figure 2. Gold Shield (pngimg, n.d.)
- 4. Threat of Unrestricted Internet in China • “The Internet allows unprecedented opportunities for access to previously prohibited news and… it will enable China’s growing Internet class to shake off the blinders placed upon them by the government, eventually leading to a more democratic political framework” (Kluver & Qiu, 2003, pp. 31-32) • Poses a potential political and social threat to China’s current established order
- 5. Restricting & Monitoring Internet Access • The internet is used for more than just streaming music and watching cat videos; it provides access to foreign knowledge and concepts, and a forum for personal expression • Controlling content potentially threatens basic human rights like freedom of expression and the right to privacy Figure 3. Galaxy Cat (Medina, n.d.)
- 6. So Internet Restriction is bad… right? • Not necessarily! • Controlling internet content can be beneficial to society in the correct setting and with suitable implementation, such as blocking images of child pornography or restricting witness protection records • This does not mean all internet restrictions are made with the public’s interest in mind!
- 7. Why else would you restrict the Internet? • There are a variety of other reasons a governing body like the People’s Republic of China would claim necessitates restricted internet access like that provided by the Great Firewall of China, primarily related to: – The country’s economy – Governance & politics
- 8. Economic Factors • Blocking major international sites and browsers such as Facebook and Google with the intention of “guarding against foreign economic domination” (Walton, 2001) • Promoting the domestic economy by alleviating saturation of international online sites and brands, leaving the market open for local institutions and companies
- 9. Political Factors • “The goal of the Chinese government’s Internet filtering and censorship is to minimize the discussions on sensitive political issues and to avoid the potential organization of online anti- government voices” (Lee & Liu, 2012, p. 139) • Restriction of any structured or potentially choreographed political opposition by shutting down sites promoting destructive ideals or supporting idealistically rivaling political parties
- 10. Detriments of Internet Censorship • The ruling political powers may have their own agendas, attempting to use the notion of ‘enhanced domestic economy’ or ‘destructive foreign ideologies’ to their own political benefit and to ensure their enduring power • A severe blow to the ‘global economy’ in the form of lost international trade (both in goods and information exchange) • Appropriate censorship is not clearly defined and can be subjective based on the individual or organisation performing the censoring • In the case of the Great Firewall, the Chinese government has never disclosed its filter’s targets or its filtering system’s explicit criteria (Lee & Liu, 2012, p. 139)
- 11. Risks of the Great Firewall • “Authoritarian states may use co-regulation to freeze out free speech, censor the internet and overpower the media. This is exactly what is happening now in China” (Frydman, Hennebel, & Lewkowicz, 2012, p. 146) • Any sites conflicting with the political leaders’ agendas can be ‘silently’ blocked unbeknownst to the public • Promotion of multiculturalism is actively purged and a form of modern imperialism is enforced within China
- 12. Is it time the Great Firewall came down? • Apparent studies within China suggest the citizens support the use of the Great Firewall: is it then fair for ‘foreigners’ to deem their institution a threat to human rights if the people being governed desire this implementation? • Can surveys suggesting the populace support the Great Firewall be trusted, or are they yet more forms of governmental control and manipulation of information? • Is this issue an extension of “the propensity of the Western media to sensationalize Internet censorship”? (Thornton, 2009, p. 265) • The Great Firewall and its filters can be circumvented by opponents of its use with a moderate degree of knowledge of how the internet functions, although this yields both legal and moral quandaries
- 13. References • Billout, G. (2013). China Wall. Retrieved from http://www.artchipel.com/post/65331283838/guy-billout- china-wall-watercolor-and-airbrush • Frydman, B., Hennebel, L., & Lewkowicz, G. (2012). Co-regulation and the rule of law. In E. Brousseau, M. Marzouki & C. Meadel (Eds.), Governance, Regulation and Powers on the Internet (pp. 133-150). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press • James, R. (2009, March 18). A Brief History of: Chinese Internet Censorship. Time. • Kluver, R., & Qiu, J. L. (2003). China, the Internet and Democracy. In I. Banerjee (Ed.), Rhetoric and Reality: The Internet Challenge for Democracy in Asia (pp. 26-60). Singapore: Eastern Universities Press • Lee, J. , & Liu, C. (2012). Forbidden City Enclosed by the Great Firewall: The Law and Power of Internet Filtering in China. Minnesota Journal of Law, Science, and Technology, 13(1), 125-151. Retrieved from https://ssrn.com/abstract=2035788 • Lehnardt, K. (2016). Great Wall of China Facts. Retrieved from https://d3jkudlc7u70kh.cloudfront.net/ great-wall-of-china-facts.jpg • Medina, M. (n.d.). Galaxy Cat. Retrieved from https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ea/5d/ca/ea5dca4056948 e013ca654c16910ecf4--galaxy-cat-the-galaxy.jpg • Pngimg (n.d.). Gold Shield. Retrieved from http://pngimg.com/download/1274/?i=1 • Runkel, M. (2010). The Great Firewall of China: Political and economical implications of the Great Shield. GRIN Verlag, Munich, Germany • Thornton, P. M. (2009). Censorship and Surveillance in Chinese Cyberspace: Beyond the Great Firewall. In P. H. Gries & S. Rosen (Eds.), Chinese Politics: State, Society, and the Market (pp.179-198). London, UK: Routledge • Walton, G. (2001). China’s Golden Shield: Corporations and the Development of Surveillance Technology in the People’s Republic of China. Canada: Rights & Democracy