The Internet has raised the bar substantially in terms of the knowledge base and sheer content that is now available to the general public. Unfortunately, not every country’s citizens are being afforded the same rights to view whichever websites they desire, as China is now trying to eradicate any undesirable website from the Internet.

Those of us living in completely democratic countries can sometimes get very blase about the freedoms we enjoy, and those are particularly felt when it comes to the Internet. As long as a website is acceptable in international law, then we can view it without hindrance or interference.

Obviously some subjects, such as terrorism or paedophilia, contravene what is morally acceptable, and any website pertaining to those subjects are shut down, and their creators hunted, but in the main, anything goes.

China has never been quite as free as other countries, and so even though the current government is trying to embrace new technologies, and become more westernised, there is still a massive amount of regulation and censorship going on.

At the end of last year, the Ministry of Information Industry, which sounds like something from 1984, set out new rules on online content which banned violent, pornographic and “fake” audio or video content.

The State was involved, and was signalling its intent to run, or control every website which offered broadcasting or streaming services. Sites were basically asked to sign a pact which meant they’d monitor content, and delete anything which may be classed as “improper content”.

This is all part of the Chinese authorities mission to ensure a “healthy and orderly” cyberspace. But who decides what is harmful or subversive for the citizens of China?

Yahoo! News are now reporting that eight central websites have signed the voluntary pact, and agreed to “eradicate pornography and violence, which had seriously polluted the online environment and affected the growth of young people.” Furthermore, “Decadent, backward thoughts and culture must be boycotted by all.”

So far, the only sites to have signed up seem to be those associated closely with the government, such as official news agency Xinhua, and Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily.

China currently has an Internet population of 210 million people, and that is likely to grow at a massively increased rate over the next decade or so. If the government thinks it can regulate that amount of people from finding and viewing what they want to, I think they are sorely mistaken.

If any medium is likely to help the Chinese population become more free in what they feel they can do, it’s going to be the Internet. I can see why the authorities are rallying against it, and trying to control what the people see, but honestly, isn’t it going to be fighting a losing battle?

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Entry was posted on Sunday, February 24th, 2008 at 9:02 am under Adult content, Internet, Legal, Opinion.

Read more entries by Dave Parrack.
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