China Tightens Control of Net

The ability of the Burmese junta to restrict access to the Internet has gained much attention, but censorship confounds millions more users throughout the world. China, with the second largest number of web users in the world, endorses a sophisticated array of misinformation techniques, including surveillance and filtering. Some human rights and pro-democracy websites are unavailable; for other sites, the Beijing Internet Information Administrative Bureau persuades webmasters to remove offending stories, downplay the importance of some events or add articles manufactured in party headquarters, according to a report by the non-governmental organization Reporters Sans Frontiers. Chinese authorities argue that the controls ensure stability. The nation’s simultaneous struggle to embrace modernity and shut out influences from the rest of the world is likely to encounter friction as foreigners – along with all their liberal ideas – stream into China for the 2008 Olympic Games. – YaleGlobal