Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Hi, my name is John and I am a student at Guilford College. For my Computer Ethics project, I wanted to discuss about the "Great Firewall of China". For a nice general idea about Internet Censorship in China, here is a link to Wikipedia that gives a brief summary about legislative basis of Internet Censorship in China.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China

 Just to give everyone an idea, I found this website that actually tests whether or not you are able to view a specific website within Mainland China. Here is the link:

http://www.greatfirewallofchina.org/

Feel free to try out any website.

Now here is some news articles about the Google and the Internet Censorship in China. Here are the links:

Google offering tips to help Chinese to steer clear of the Firewall


http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57444727-93/google-offers-tips-to-help-chinese-steer-clear-of-the-great-firewall/

Google and the Great Firewall: An Interesting New Twist:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/05/google-and-the-great-firewall-an-interesting-new-twist/257907/

There has been much debate regarding internet censorship and how it infringes the rights of citizens when government regulate and control what information their people can or cannot view. On March 22, 2010, the Google company pull the search engine out of China due to the difficulties the company had with the government's internet censorship policies. Here is the article:

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2010-03-22/tech/29990556_1_google-com-hk-google-s-china-googlecn

The majority of the Chinese people in Mainland China do not have access to site that many other people of world can access like Google.com for example. Though as a previous article mentions, there have been ways to move around the internet filters and firewalls and I have seen it happened while studying abroad in China. Though the number is in a "privileged few". Now westerners believe that this level of internet censorship is wrong and that  no country  should put that much restriction(s) on its citizens. However, it is important to note that the culture perspectives in China is very different in comparison to the Europe and North America. Let's try tackle some questions:

1. With this is mind, who has the right to control what people see on the Internet? Does it create barriers between two cultures that may result in some misunderstandings on both sides?

2. A student provided an interesting example of conflict between two different businesses on different countries. This is where a person helping to create instructions for a new technology and says that this procedure is the way to do it, we do it this only way because it is the best way. They are sharing this information with a new group, country, government, or corporation. The organization disagrees because they want to use this a particular technology a manner to they see fit their needs. In other words, they want to do it their way. The person offering their help then gets frustrated with the difficulties of the corporation, resulting in the withdrawal from the business deal. From these conservations, which side do you agree or disagree with. The person trying to offer help or the group trying to use the technology the way they see fits their needs? Is one or the other side trying to be dominant in their business deal?

3. Is there is a possibility that China may feel a sense of cultural imperialism when viewing the Internet or that it could possibly bring conflict in their country? In other words, could the end of the firewall bring significant cultural changes in the nation and change the ideologies of the Chinese population?

4. In your opinion, what rights do you think any person should have with the Internet? Are their certain restrictions on the web that you think should be implemented? Do you think that the responsibilities of Internet surfing based on the individual or the community? Should any institution, country, or government have the authority to regulate what their citizens can view on sites like Google?

5. Personally, do you think there is way that the Chinese Communist Government will be willing to compromise and allow more citizens have broader access to the Internet? If yes, what do you think the policies and compromises that can be made to allow less restrictions to access to the Internet? If no, what evidence (culture, business, government, concerns of power struggle in the country) shows that the People's Republic of China may not want to allow such freedom for its citizens in the Global Internet?

6. How do you think the Great Firewall of China will end? What possibilities could happen to bring an end to Chinese censorship to the Internet?


These are very difficult question with no right and wrong answers. Please feel free to share any links, news, videos, and other information. Remember, be happy with the privilege of, for now, not having so much internet restrictions by government. That was a joke. Thank you for your participation!

14 comments:

  1. Question 1. With this is mind, who has the right to control what people see on the Internet? Does it create barriers between two cultures that may result in some misunderstandings on both sides?

    I believe that misunderstandings between different cultures can happen easily due to language barriers or cultural traditions. Not being face to face with someone it makes it easier for misunderstandings to occur even to someone who speaks the same language. Take texting for example sometime friends can misinterpret text each other due to the fact they are unable to read the other persons body language. I believe that we should be more understanding of each other while at the same time not jump to conclusions or be to judgmental.

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    1. Excellent point there Steve. It is important to establish that face to face connection. Very true that it is far more personal to be able to meet the person "eye to eye", interpret body language, and helping both parties to better relate and establish a more personal connection with each other.

      With Technology, we communicate faster, yet the personal connection does not has a much significance. For example, texting a friend has far less "personal" connection as say writing a letter....

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    1. Wow this gives a broader perspective in the political arena and the current situation in the region. Thank you for sharing this information Shu-ju. Those are some very valid points in the differences between two political areas of China. From your argument, it seems that there is more of political debate and controversy which in some sense divided different regional areas of China. This could lead to the speculation that this access to free information could possibly challenge the power of the government over the general population. With this in mind, maybe the only change happens when new individuals take positions within the government that the Mainland China may allow less Internet restrictions for the public. However, that is perhaps, too optimistic argument given the different conflicting ideologies for each group.

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  3. Here is some recent news by Reuters. China is now proposing to strengthen internet guidelines.

    http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/07/china-internet-censorship-idINDEE85604Y20120607

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  4. 5. Personally, do you think there is way that the Chinese Communist Government will be willing to compromise and allow more citizens have broader access to the Internet? If yes, what do you think the policies and compromises that can be made to allow less restrictions to access to the Internet? If no, what evidence (culture, business, government, concerns of power struggle in the country) shows that the People's Republic of China may not want to allow such freedom for its citizens in the Global Internet?

    The only time the Communist government of Mainland China (PRC) would compromise and allow its citizens to have broader access is if the access would somehow benefit the Party and/or offer an additional venue to disseminate propaganda. Otherwise, it will never happen. Though in recent years the PRC has relaxed many economic restrictions and transitioned into a form of hybrid-capitalism, socially speaking the country is still a police state, with only one ruling party, the Communist Party. The PRC is infamous for a plethora of human rights violations and continues to maintain a tight grip on its citizenry, only loosening the reins of power when it is either unavoidable (public relations, such as during the 2008 Olympics) or too profitable (huge monetary gains). The Communist party inherently fears the Internet because of its innate capability to even the scales in terms of social, political, and information asymmetry. No amount of guns, bombs, missiles, or soldiers can stop the flow of information on the Internet; it is the sole tool the average Mainland Chinese citizen can use to leverage some power against the ruling party. The PRC is a country run on fear; the Communist party will remain in power and be able to do whatever it wants as long as the citizenry remains fearful and brainwashed. Thus it is integral for the CP to maintain a tight grip on the Internet in order to continue to enforce its will and subjugate its citizenry.

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    1. Very good points highlighting some of the past and present actions the People's Republic of China has done over issues of governmental control over the internet. This fits the view of Information is Power, and to control the flow of the information is to exercise a form of control over its citizens.... Keep up the great work.

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  6. Shu-ju,

    Thank you once again for posting your answers to the questions in the blog. I definitely agree that there should be some form of control what children may view on the internet especially with my adult related themes. However, this could more of a parental control issue and something the government can't really have control over because it really is a private family matter in this case. This lies upon the adults to set positive examples and take responsibility for what their children watch

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    1. Wow that is a huge typo. To clarify, I meant to say that there should be some form of control/censorship on what children may view on the internet especially with any adult related themes. That means any inappropriate adult content like pornography or R-rated movies should be filter from searches to limit children from viewing this content. Thank for letting me know of my mistake.

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  8. Here some recent news from a team from Harvard saying that the Chinese censorship is more open than it would appear to be. Thoughts?

    http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/06/chinese-online-censorship-targets-collective-action-posts/

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