Old Papers: 3

Ranen Erdahl
4/26/18
Internet Law Research Paper
China has never been known for its openness, but in recent years it has only expanded its censorship campaign. Determined to be the world’s worst abuser of internet freedom two years in a row in by the 2016 Freedom on the Net survey. Asserting his right to “Cyberspace sovereignty” current president Xi Jinping has emphasis and passed laws that allow the chinese government to control the flow of information through censorship and surveillance. China has had various policy and procedures for censoring a long list of banned words, phrases, pictures and websites that insult or go against the ideals of the chinese government. On the rare occasion that china’s government allows descent it’s only to help keep the people happy enough for them to keep them from starting to protest. In some cases the appearance of allowing people to complain is used only to weed out those who are problematic. Internet discussion of all kinds are often influenced by known as the “50 Cent Party” which is a group of people hired to spread pro-government messaging with the aim of leading the discuss towards the positives. 
    Despite their best efforts the China’s censorship campaign has not been completely successful. It’s has become increasing hard to for business to start up within China, and presuming it cost many businesses a good deal of resources to work there way into China’s intraweb. Secondly, it hasn’t worked as well as they seem to have hoped. There is a large amount of evidence that a great dealing of people our circumventing “the Great Firewall” through the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). While China undoubtedly control a very large amount of the information a fair amount of people are seeing, it is clear that much of the popular is seeking entertainment for elsewhere in the world.
A substantial increase in censorship began in late 2015, and has continue on into the current year. Some of the most censored topics in 2015 were health and safety,  the reputation of chinese officials, and, ironically, media censorship. Even seemingly innocent things have been censor, such as an image of Winnie the Pooh, as it has been used by the citizen of china as a way to mock their current president. Around the same time there was also a crack down on the registration requirements for internet users, and any unregister mobile accounts. Additionally app providers were required to store user data starting in 2016. The months of november and december were a blow to what little free speech is given to chinese citizen. A law was passed in november making the publishing of “misinformation” on social media is punishable with up to 7 years in prison. A law december requires companies to decrypt data for authorities under the guise of being an anti-terrorism measure, but it introduced several content restrictions that could suppress legitimate speech. Finally there are two very recent examples of the chinese government censoring its people. The first example is a draft of a cybersecurity law that could step up requirements for internet companies to store data in China, censor information, and shut down services for security reasons, which will be left up to the discretion of the Cyberspace Administration of China. The second example is the blocking of websites operated by the South China Morning Post, The Economist and Time magazine for reporting articles perceived as critical of President Xi Jinping. However these are only the most recent examples, the China government has written into its code numerous laws that are heavily censorship based. And while some are more recent than other, what is clear is that the aurothies are devoting everything can to denying their citizens the freedom of thought and expression.
Often referred to as China’s “Great firewall” an automated system has block whole domains name as well as IP addresses leaving only an explicit warning about illegal content. Nine state-run operators maintain China’s gateways to the global internet, giving authorities the ability to cut off cross-border information requests. All service providers must subscribe via the gateway operators under MIIT oversight. Using deep packet inspection to scan both a user’s request and the content requested for any blacklisted keywords. If any of these keywords are detected, the technology signals both sides of the exchange to temporarily sever the connection. Government censorship campaign occur often, and can hit hard. On June 8, 2015, the CAC announced that 100 websites and 20,000 social media accounts were shut down during “anti-internet blackmail and paid content removal” campaign. However, legitimate accounts were also affected. the International Telecommunication Union estimated internet penetration at 50 percent in 2015.The government has shut down access to entire communications systems in response to specific events, notably imposing a 10-month internet blackout in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, home to 22 million people, after ethnic violence in the regional capital, Urumqi, in 2009.   Smaller-scale shutdowns have been enforced
Antipornography and antirumor campaigns are also a long-standing cover for government censorship of social and political content.  Many social media applications produce sanitized versions for the mainland Chinese market. One such example, in 2012, Evernote launched a separate service for the Chinese mainland, with modified terms of use containing a list of nine categories of “undesirable information.” This practice extends to new sources as well. Online journalists regularly practice self-censorship. Editors and reporters who post banned content, or content that is critical of the government, risk disciplinary warnings, job loss, or even criminal detention. The chinese government frequently blocks both the websites and all social media accounts affiliated with the South China Morning Post, the largest English newspaper in Hong Kong. One such time was during Umbrella Revolution protests that shook Hong Kong in autumn 2014. The reason for the latest incident in march 2016 is unknown. But at the time in question the paper had reported on allegations that Chinese security agents abducted Hong Kong-based booksellers to face criminal charges in China, after publishing books perceived as critical of Xi Jinping. In January 2016 that there were reported to be nearly 700 million internet users in China. Multiple groups independent of each other employ thousands of people to monitor, censor, and manipulate content. A range of issues are systematically censored, including independent evaluations and any critiques of China’s human rights record as well as any government policies, and any discussion of topics deemed to be politically sensitive. 
It doesn’t stop at website, however even text messages are censored. Mobile users report receiving blank messages in place of banned keywords, though what content is banned appears to vary. Entertainment is also heavily watch as demonstrated by the release of the  23rd illegal internet “culture activities” list, which focuses on animation and cartoons online. this August, 120 songs were banned for “containing content that promotes sex, violence or crime, or harms public morality,” They were then added to the list of content for online portals to monitor and delete. Even when content is not banned, it is usually heavily monitor, and often influences by a groups collectively known as the “50 Cent Party”. This a group of trained web commentators hired by  propaganda units at all levels. Most, if not all, of these practices are in violation, but such a concern is clearly not important to those currently running the chinese government.
Many rights recognized in western world are granted by article 35 of the chinese constitution. Rights such as freedoms of speech, assembly, etc. are suppose to maintain and upheld, but are subordinated to the CCP’s status as the ruling power. Citizens are also unable to legally invoke the constitution in most cases. Free expression and privacy were undermined through heightened pressure on companies providing internet services and content to comply with censorship orders and user data requests. Free expression and privacy were slowly done away with through laws that codify existing strategies of censorship, and heightened pressure on companies providing internet services and content to comply with censorship orders and user data requests. Two example are the passing of an antiterrorism law In December 2015, but had been pending since November 2014. While the law contained no requirement for technology firms to provide the government with surveillance “back doors”, it did require companies to offer technical support to decrypt information at the request of law enforcement agencies. Recently the National People’s Congress drafted a cybersecurity law which could strengthen the policies around internet censorship. The bill further requires internet companies to censor content, shut down their services, register their users’ real names, and provide security agencies with user data stored in mainland China.  shut down their services, register their users’ real names, and provide security agencies with user data stored in mainland China. So while several rights are technically guaranteed to the chinese people, these rights are clearly not actually available to anyone who may wish to use them. Surprise the chinese government does occasionally allow post critical of the government to leak through the firewall. There at least two studies verifying this, and both offer a few reason as to why this may be.
Political scientist Gary king led two study attempting to obverse the extent to which the chinese government censor its internet. The first study watched over a 1,000 websites using a network of computers to monitor the latest post on them. The second study was a little more hands on as King’s team created fake accounts on over 100 social media sites. Among the list of their findings two points stand out. The censorship infrastructure of China is extremely effective, often able to flag post with in a day of it’s posting, and focus heavily on post link to grassroot collectives. There are several examples of where criticism of the government was left alone, but any calls to action were censor. King, himself, suggested two reasons for this. The first reason is that allowing your citizen to express some negative feelings instead of keeping them bottled can prevent them from complaining in some of the more extreme ways. The second reason seems to suggest that China is learning from history. By learning about the problems its citizen are having, and then address some of them. Effectively keeping the population happy enough with those in charge that they are still able to see their country as legitimate. In an interview about the studies King cited the political scientist Martin Dimitrov, who argues that “regimes collapse when its people stop bringing grievances to the state”. In other words simply ignoring the chinese public could easily lead to the collapse of the chinese government, and thus the said government chooses not to do so.  There is of course the more nefarious third reason, which has been common throughout all authoritarian regime. That reason being that people are “allowed” to complain, so that can be easily found and captured. After all it is not as though the chinese is guaranteed to simply ignore any unflagged post, particularly if that post seems to be gaining traction. But as effective as the Great Firewall has become it doesn’t seem to be flawless, or at least it is not without its consequences.
Steve Fan, once a student at Stanford University, is one of many examples of people having problems with China’s massive censorship effort. Steve reports that in the age of the internet trying to operate around within the parameters of the Great Firewall is very difficult. He report that google was often blocked for bizarre reasons. For example, “river” in Chinese is pronounced the same as the last name of China's former president, Jiang Zemin, and therefore is censored. While it is hard to know actually how many entrepreneurs need access beyond what is allowed in China, it is clearly beginning to cost them. Most developed countries today live with largely unrestricted access to the global information market, and a large number of China’s citizen are already aware of this. Such as many business owners, like Steve Fan, who attempted to save himself some trouble by using a VPN before ultimately deciding to close his business.
It not just business owners. Netflix does not offer its services in china, yet an estimated 20 million people in China are jumping pass the firewall to watch movies. Many chinese scholars used VPNs to attend overseas conferences. Students who travel abroad use them to stay in touch with their foreign friends. Some school staff members even claim that VPNs are expanding the worldview of many students, and that that is a good thing. While most of the chinese popular does appear to be unaware that VPNs exists, the recently government crack down targeting such networks suggest a growing urge to see beyond the chinese intranet. But cracking down on something called a Virtual Private Network is not going to be easy, especially with users exchanging tips privately. Furthermore an increased in censorship is only going to further hinder China’s place in the global market. It going to take a large amount of work, and from every angle appears to be a losing battle. 
China has put a great amount of time and resources in isolating its public it every way it can. For a very long time its censorship campaign looked like a success, and it many ways the Great Firewall is holding strong. However appearances may be just that, appearances. What is clear to even the government of China is that a growing number people are wondering just what exactly is so worth keeping out of reach. And while China may find ways to render VPNs useless, it is only a matter of time before something better than them comes along. There is also the seemingly growing economic costing as well as student making friends while studying abroad. It hard to know the actual conditions of China as it is one of the many things they like to keep hidden, but there are at least indications of a growing unrest. Despite their every effort to keep their population happy, even the chinese government is detecting an increasing amount of danger to the Great Firewall. History is filled with examples teaching that banning things does not end well, and it seems China is showing signs of being another one of those examples. However given that shock that will come should this great effort fail, it could be one of the last time that lesson is ever taught.






BibliographyBao, Beibei. "How Internet Censorship Is Curbing Innovation in China." The Atlantic. April 22, 2013. Accessed April 21, 2018. https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/04/how-internet-censorship-is-curbing-innovation-in-china/275188/.
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