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Censorship
By Country
Algeria Australia Belarus Bhutan Burma Canada China Cuba East Germany France Germany India Indonesia Iran Ireland Israel Japan For other uses, see Censor. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... As with many Soviet-allied countries prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the government of the former German Democratic Republic (German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik) applied wide censorship during its existence from 1949 to 1990. ...	Malaysia Pakistan Portugal Russia Samoa Saudi Arabia Singapore South Asia North Korea Soviet Union Sweden Taiwan Thailand Tunisia Turkey United Kingdom United States Censorship in South Asia can apply to books, movies the Internet and other media. ...
See also: Freedom of speech by country
By media
Advertisements Anime Books Banned films This article is about freedom of speech in specific jurisdictions. ... Bold text Advertising regulation refers to the laws and rules defining the ways in which products can be advertised in a particular region. ... Editing of anime in American distribution describes the process of altering anime to prepare it to be distributed in the United States and forms part of the process of localization. ... Many societies have banned certain books. ... For nearly the entire history of film production, certain films have been either boycotted by political and religious groups or literally banned by a regime for political or moral reasons. ...	Re-edited films Internet Music Video games A re-edited film is a film that has been edited from the original theatrical release. ... Censorship of Music, the practice of censoring music from the public, may take the form of partial or total censorship with the latter banning the music entirely. ... Video games have been the subject of controversy and censorship, due to the depiction of graphic violence, sexual themes, consumption of illegal drugs, consumption of alcohol or tobacco, or profanity in some games. ...
By channel
BBC The BBC is a public service broadcasting corporation and, as such, it has always felt some obligation to standards of taste and decency, to varying levels, at different times in its history. ...	MTV Censorship on MTV has been the subject of debate for years. ...
By method
Book burning Bleep censor Broadcast delay Content-control software Expurgation Pixelization Postal censorship Prior restraint Self-censorship Whitewashing Book burning is the practice of ceremoniously destroying by fire one or more copies of a book or other written material. ... A bleep censor is used to filter out inappropriate audio content during a live United States the Federal Communications Commission has the constitutional right to regulate indecent broadcasts. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Tape delay (broadcasting). ... DansGuardian blocking whitehouse. ... This article is about the graphical editing/censorship technique. ... During times of war post from the front is often opened and offending parts blanked or cut out. ... Prior restraint is a legal term referring to a governments actions that prevent materials from being published. ... Self-censorship is the act of censoring and/or classifying ones own book(s), film(s), or other kind of art to avoid offending others without an authority pressuring them to do so. ... This article is for the meaning of censorship. ...
By context
Corporate censorship Under fascist regimes Political censorship In religion Corporate censorship is a term used to denote either censorship through legal challenges, through refusal to sell a product, or refusal to advertise or allow air time. ... Censorship in Italy under Fascism Censorship in Italy was not created with Fascism, nor it ended with it, but it had a relevantly heavy importance in the life of Italians under the Regime. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Censorship by religion is a form of censorship where freedom of expression is controlled or limited using religious authority or on the basis of the teachings of the religion. ... This box: view • talk • edit

Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China is conducted under a wide variety of laws and administrative regulations. In accordance with these laws, more than sixty Internet regulations have been made by the People's Republic of China (PRC) government, and censorship systems are vigorously implemented by provincial branches of state-owned ISPs, business companies, and organizations.^[1][2] “ISP” redirects here. ...

Most national laws of the People's Republic of China do not apply to the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong or Macau. There are no known cases of the Chinese authorities censoring critical political or religious content in those territories. Special administrative region may be: Peoples Republic of China Special administrative regions, present-day administrative divisions (as of 2006) set up by the Peoples Republic of China to administer Hong Kong (since 1997) and Macau (since 1999) Republic of China Special administrative regions, also translated as special administrative...

The escalation of the government's effort to neutralize critical online opinion comes after a series of large anti-Japanese, anti-pollution and anti-corruption protests, many of which were organised or publicised using instant messaging services, chatrooms and text messages. Although the existence of an Internet police task force, estimated at more than 30,000,^[3] has been known for some time, attention is mostly focused on their work as censors and monitors. Critical comments appearing on Internet forums, bulletin boards, blogs, vlogs or any major portals such as Sohu and Sina are usually erased within minutes. The Internet brigades (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: Russian: ) [1][2] are state-sponsored information warfare teams that conduct psychological operations on-line. ... An Internet forum, also known as a message board or discussion board, is a web application that provides for online discussions, and is the modern descendant of the bulletin board systems and existing Usenet news systems that were widespread in the 1980s and 1990s. ... A bulletin board system or BBS is a computer system running software that allows users to dial into the system over a phone line and, using a terminal program, perform functions such as downloading software and data, uploading data, reading news, and exchanging messages with other users. ... It has been suggested that Online diary be merged into this article or section. ... Videoblog, a portmanteau combining video, web, and log, (usually shortened to vlog) is a blog that includes video. ... Sohu (搜狐) (NASDAQ: SOHU) is a Chinese web portal. ... Sina. ...

As of March 31, 2008, China has unblocked all access to Internet Web sites, including English and Chinese versions of Wikipedia, BBC, the Falun Gong home page, and the Dalai Lama's home page. [1]

Enforcement

The banning appears to be mostly uncoordinated and ad hoc, with some sites being blocked and similar sites being allowed or even blocked in one city and allowed in another.^[4] The blocks have been often lifted for special occasions. One example was the New York Times which became unblocked when reporters in a private interview with Jiang Zemin specifically asked about the block and he replied that he would look into the matter. During the APEC summit in Shanghai during 2001, normally-blocked media sources such as CNN, NBC, and the Washington Post suddenly became accessible. Since 2001, the content controls have been further relaxed on a permanent basis, and all three of the sites previously mentioned are now accessible from mainland China. In fact, most foreign news organizations' web sites are accessible,^{[citation needed]} though a small number (including the Chinese-language service of BBC News) continue to be blocked. Ad hoc is a Latin phrase which means for this [purpose]. It generally signifies a solution that has been tailored to a specific purpose, such as a tailor-made suit, a handcrafted network protocol, and specific-purpose equation and things like that. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... Jiāng Zémín (Traditional Chinese: 江澤民, Simplified Chinese: 江泽民, Hanyu Pinyin: Jiāng Zémín, Wade-Giles: Chiang Tse-min, Cantonese (Jyutping): gong1 zaak6 man4) (born August 17, 1926) was the core of the third generation of Communist Party of China leaders, serving as General Secretary of the Communist... APEC redirects here. ... For other uses, see Shanghai (disambiguation). ... The Cable News Network, commonly known as CNN, is a major cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. ... This article is about the television network. ... ... BBC News is the department within the BBC responsible for the corporations news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. ...

Mainland China agencies frequently issue regulations about the Internet, but these are often not enforced or are ignored^{[citation needed]}. One major problem in enforcement is determining who has jurisdiction over the Internet, causing many bureaucratic turf battles within the PRC government among various ministries and between central and local officials. The State Council Information Office has the mandate to regulate the Internet, but other security agencies in mainland China have a say as well. The Information Office of the State Council is an administrative office under the State Council, the chief administrative body of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

Some legal scholars have pointed out that the frequency at which the PRC government issues new regulations on the Internet is a symptom of their ineffectiveness, because the new regulations never make reference to the previous set of regulations, which appear to have been forgotten.

Golden Shield Project

Main article: Golden Shield Project

The Golden Shield Project (Chinese: 金盾工程; pinyin: jīndùn gōngchéng) is owned by Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China (MPS). It started in 1998, began the process in November of 2003, and the first part of the project passed the national inspection on November 16, 2006 in Beijing. According to MPS, it is to construct a communication network and computer information system for police to improve their capability and efficiency. According to China Central Television (CCTV), up to 2002, the preliminary work of the Golden Shield Project cost US$800 million (equivalent to RMB 6,400 million or €640 million).^[5] The Golden Shield Project (Chinese: ; pinyin: ), sometimes referred to as the Great Firewall of China, is a censorship and surveillance project operated by the Ministry of Public Security of the Peoples Republic of China (MPS). ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) (公安部, pinyin: gōng ān bù) is the principal police authority in the mainland of the Peoples Republic of China and the agency that is responsible for most of the day-to-day police work in mainland China. ... Peking redirects here. ... China Central Television or Chinese Central Television, commonly abbreviated as CCTV (simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is the major television broadcaster in Mainland China. ...

The Golden Shield Project is part of what is sometimes known outside of mainland China as the Great Firewall of China (in reference both to its role as a network firewall and to the ancient Great Wall of China). The system blocks content by preventing IP addresses from being routed through and consists of standard firewall and proxy servers at the Internet gateways. The system also selectively engages in DNS poisoning when particular sites are requested. The government does not appear to be systematically examining Internet content, as this appears to be technically impractical.^[6] ... This article is about the network security device. ... The Great Wall of China (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally Long wall) or (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally The long wall of 10,000 Li (里)[1]) is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th... An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a unique address that certain electronic devices currently use in order to identify and communicate with each other on a computer network utilizing the Internet Protocol standard (IP)—in simpler terms, a computer address. ... In computer networks, a proxy server is a server (a computer system or an application program) which services the requests of its clients by forwarding requests to other servers. ... In telecommunications, the term gateway has the following meanings: In a communications network, a network node equipped for interfacing with another network that uses different protocols. ... DNS cache poisoning ...

Researchers at the University of California, Davis and the University of New Mexico have asserted, however, that the Great Firewall is not a true firewall since banned material is sometimes able to pass through several routers or through the entire system without being blocked.^[7] The University of California, Davis, commonly known as UC Davis, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, and was established as the University Farm in 1905. ... The University of New Mexico (UNM) is a public university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. ...

Legislation^[8]

In September 2000, the State Council Order No. 292, created the first content restrictions for ICPs . China-based Web sites cannot link to overseas news Web sites or carry news from overseas media without separate approval. Only “licensed print publishers” have the authority to bring out news on-line. Non-licensed Web sites that wish to broadcast news may only publish information already publicly released by other news media. These sites must obtain approval from state information offices and from the State Council Information Agency . Article 14 of this Order, gives Chinese officials full access to any kind of sensitive information they wish: “ […] an IIS provider must keep a copy of its records for 60 days and furnish them to the relevant state authorities upon demand in accordance to the law.” Finally, article 15, officially establishes an online dictatorship: “IIS providers shall not produce, reproduce, release, or disseminate information that: […] endangers national security, […]is detrimental to the honor of the state, […] undermines social stability, the state’s policy towards religion, […] other information prohibited by the law or administrative regulations”. Article 12 mentions that “content providers are responsible for ensuring the legality of any information disseminated through their services”.

Technical information

Some commonly used methods for censoring content are:^[9]

• IP blocking. Access to a certain IP address is denied. If the target website is hosted in a shared hosting server, all websites on the same server will be blocked. This affects all IP-based protocols such as HTTP, FTP and POP. A typical circumvention method is to find proxies that have access to the target websites, but proxies may be jammed or blocked, and some websites, such as Wikipedia (when editing), also block proxies. Some large websites like Google have allocated additional IP addresses to circumvent the block, but later the block was extended to cover the new IPs.
• DNS filtering and redirection. Don't resolve domain names, or return incorrect IP addresses. This affects all IP-based protocols such as HTTP, FTP and POP. A typical circumvention method is to find a domain name server that resolves domain names correctly, but domain name servers are subject to blockage as well, especially IP blocking. Another workaround is to bypass DNS if the IP address is obtainable from other sources and is not blocked. Examples are modifying the Hosts file or typing the IP address instead of the domain name in a Web browser.
• URL filtering. Scan the requested Uniform Resource Locator (URL) string for target keywords regardless of the domain name specified in the URL. This affects the HTTP protocol. Typical circumvention methods are to use escaped characters in the URL, or to use encrypted protocols such as VPN and TLS/SSL.^[10]
• Packet filtering. Terminate TCP packet transmissions when a certain number of controversial keywords are detected. This affects all TCP-based protocols such as HTTP, FTP and POP, but Search engine results pages are more likely to be censored. Typical circumvention methods are to use encrypted connections - such as VPN and TLS/SSL - to escape the HTML content, or by reducing the TCP/IP stack's MTU/MSS to reduce the amount of text contained in a given packet.
• Connection reset. If a previous TCP connection is blocked by the filter, future connection attempts from both sides will also be blocked for up to 30 minutes. Depending on the location of the block, other users or websites may also be blocked if the communication is routed to the location of the block. A circumvention method is to ignore the reset packet sent by the firewall.^[11]
• Web feed blocking. Increasingly, incoming URLs starting with the words "rss", "feed", or "blog" are blocked.^[12]
• Reverse surveillance. Computers accessing certain websites including Google are automatically exposed to reverse scanning from the ISP in an apparent attempt to extract further information from the "offending" system.

An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a unique address that certain electronic devices currently use in order to identify and communicate with each other on a computer network utilizing the Internet Protocol standard (IP)—in simpler terms, a computer address. ... An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a unique address that certain electronic devices currently use in order to identify and communicate with each other on a computer network utilizing the Internet Protocol standard (IP)—in simpler terms, a computer address. ... A shared web hosting service or virtual hosting service is a form of web hosting service where more than one instance of the same web server is hosted on a single physical server. ... The Internet Protocol (IP) is a data-oriented protocol used for communicating data across a packet-switched internetwork. ... Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a communications protocol used to transfer or convey information on intranets and the World Wide Web. ... This article is about the File Transfer Protocol standardised by the IETF. For other file transfer protocols, see File transfer protocol (disambiguation). ... In computing, local e-mail clients use the Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3), an application-layer Internet standard protocol, to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. ... In computer networks, a proxy server is a server (a computer system or an application program) which services the requests of its clients by forwarding requests to other servers. ... Wikipedia (IPA: , or ( ) is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. ... This article is about the corporation. ... The Domain Name System (DNS) associates various sorts of information with so-called domain names; most importantly, it serves as the phone book for the Internet by translating human-readable computer hostnames, e. ... The term domain name has multiple related meanings: A name that identifies a computer or computers on the Internet. ... The hosts file is a computer file used to store information on where to find a node on a computer network. ... An example of a Web browser (Mozilla Firefox) A web browser is a software application that enables a user to display and interact with text, images, videos, music and other information typically located on a Web page at a website on the World Wide Web or a local area network. ... // Uniform Resource Locator (URL) formerly known as Universal Resource Locator, is a technical, Web-related term used in two distinct meanings: In popular usage and many technical documents, it is a synonym for Uniform Resource Identifier (URI); Strictly, the idea of a uniform syntax for global identifiers of network-retrievable... // Uniform Resource Locator (URL) formerly known as Universal Resource Locator, is a technical, Web-related term used in two distinct meanings: In popular usage and many technical documents, it is a synonym for Uniform Resource Identifier (URI); Strictly, the idea of a uniform syntax for global identifiers of network-retrievable... Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a communications protocol used to transfer or convey information on intranets and the World Wide Web. ... Percent-encoding, also known as URL encoding, is a mechanism for encoding information in a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) under certain circumstances. ... VPN redirects here. ... Transport Layer Security (TLS) and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), are cryptographic protocols that provide secure communications on the Internet for such things as web browsing, e-mail, Internet faxing, instant messaging and other data transfers. ... In information technology, a packet is a formatted block of data carried by a packet mode computer network. ... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... A typical Search Engine Results Page (SERP) A search engine results page, or SERP, is the listing of web pages returned by a search engine in response to a keyword query. ... The Internet protocol suite is the set of communications protocols that implement the protocol stack on which the Internet and most commercial networks run. ... A protocol stack (sometimes communications stack) is a particular software implementation of a computer networking protocol suite. ... In computer networking, the term Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) refers to the size (in bytes) of the largest packet that a given layer of a communications protocol can pass onwards. ... The maximum segment size (MSS) is the largest amount of data, specified in bytes, that a computer or communications device can handle in a single, unfragmented piece. ... The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is one of the core protocols of the Internet protocol suite. ... This article is about routing (or routeing) in computer networks. ... A typical web feed logo A web feed is a data format used for serving users frequently updated content. ... For other meanings of RSS, see RSS (disambiguation). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This article is about the corporation. ...

Censored content

See also: List of notable websites blocked in the People's Republic of China

Research into mainland Chinese Internet censorship has shown that censored websites include: This is a list of notable websites blocked in the Peoples Republic of China. ... For other uses, see Censor. ...

• Websites belonging to the outlawed qigong group Falun Gong ^{[13] [14]}
• News sources that often cover some taboo topics such as police brutality, Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, freedom of speech, democracy, and Marxist sites.^[15] These sites include Voice of America, BBC News, and Yahoo! Hong Kong
• Media sites which may include unregulated content, social commentary or political commentary censored by the PRC. Youtube^[15], Wikipedia, or blogs such as Blogspot^[15], or Livejournal.
• Sites hosted by Taiwan government and major newspaper and television media and other sites with Taiwanese independence ^[16]
• Web sites that contain obscenity, pornography, and criminal activity.^{[citation needed]}
• Sites linked with the Dalai Lama and his International Tibet Independence Movement, including his teachings.^[17]

Blocked websites are indexed to a lesser degree, if at all, by some Chinese search engines, such as Baidu and Google China. This sometimes has considerable impact on search results.^[18] According to a Harvard study, at least 18,000 websites are blocked from within mainland China.^[19] According to The New York Times, Google has set up computer systems inside China that try to access Web sites outside the country. If a site is inaccessible, then it is added to Google China's blacklist.^[20] However, once (if) unblocked, the websites will be reindexed. Falun Gong practitioners enacting torture scenes in New York City Demonstration against persecution of Falun Gong at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City Arrest of People practicing the 5th. ... For the artist, see Qigong (artist). ... Falun Gong, (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally Practice of the Wheel of Law) also known as Falun Dafa, (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; lit. ... January 31 1919: David Kirkwood on the ground after being struck by batons of the Glasgow police Police brutality is a term used to describe the excessive use of physical force, assault, verbal attacks, and threats by police officers and other law enforcement officers. ... The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, commonly referred to as the Tiananmen Square Massacre,[1] were a series of demonstrations led by students, intellectuals, and labor activists in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) between April 15 and June 4, 1989. ... This article is about the general concept. ... Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... Voice of America logo Voice of America (VOA), is the official external radio and television broadcasting service of the United States federal government. ... BBC News is the department within the BBC responsible for the corporations news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. ... Social commentary is the act of expressing an opinion on the nature of society. ... Unenrolled Moderates Unenrolled Voters. ... PRC is a common abbreviation for: Peoples Republic of China Palestinian Red Crescent Popular Resistance Committees This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... YouTube is a popular video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips. ... Wikipedia (IPA: , or ( ) is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. ... Blogger logo Blogger, a coined word created by Pyra Labs, is a service that provides Web-based tools used by individuals to publish to the Web. ... LiveJournal (often abbreviated LJ) is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. ... Obscenity in Latin obscenus, meaning foul, repulsive, detestable, (possibly derived from ob caenum, literally from filth). The term is most often used in a legal context to describe expressions (words, images, actions) that offend the prevalent sexual morality of the time. ... Porn redirects here. ... For other uses, see Crime (disambiguation). ... This article is about the Dalai Lama lineage. ... A Free Tibet logo, one of several that exist The International Tibet Independence Movement (ITIM) is a movement to establish historical Tibet, comprising the three traditional provinces of Amdo, Kham, and Ãœ-Tsang as an independent kingdom. ... The success of the Google search engine was mainly due to its powerful PageRank algorithm and its simple, easy-to-use interface. ... For the Ilkhanate ruler, see Baydu. ... The Google China logo Google China (è°·æ­Œ, pinyin: gÇ” gÄ“, lit. ... Harvard redirects here. ...

Self-censorship

Jingjing, a cartoon police mascot that encourages Chinese Internet users to observe proper online conduct

Internet censorship in the PRC has been called "a panopticon that encourages self-censorship through the perception that users are being watched".^[7] The enforcement (or threat of enforcement) of censorship creates a chilling effect where individuals and businesses willingly censor their own communications to avoid legal and economic repercussions. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Male Internet police officer Jingjing. ... For other uses, see Panopticon (disambiguation). ... Self-censorship is the act of censoring and/or classifying ones own book(s), film(s), or other kind of art to avoid offending others without an authority pressuring them to do so. ... It has been suggested that Legal terrorism be merged into this article or section. ...

Search engines

See also: List of words censored by search engines in the People's Republic of China

One part of the block is to filter the search results of certain terms on Chinese search engines. These Chinese search engines include both international ones (for example, yahoo.com.cn and Google China) as well as domestic ones (for example, Baidu). Attempting to search for censored keywords in these Chinese search engines will yield few or no results. Google.cn will display the following at the bottom of the page: "According to the local laws, regulations and policies, part of the searching result is not shown." The government of the Peoples Republic of China has set up a system of internet censorship, intending to block internet users within Mainland China from accessing material deemed undesirable, such as foreign news sites, sites with dissident political content, many Taiwanese websites, and pornography. ... The success of the Google search engine was mainly due to its powerful PageRank algorithm and its simple, easy-to-use interface. ... Yahoo redirects here. ... The Google China logo Google China (谷歌, pinyin: gǔ gē, lit. ... For the Ilkhanate ruler, see Baydu. ...

In addition, a connection containing intensive censored terms may also be closed by The Great Firewall, and cannot be reestablished for several minutes. This affects all network connections including HTTP and POP, but the reset is more likely to occur during searching. HTTP (for HyperText Transfer Protocol) is the primary method used to convey information on the World Wide Web. ... In computing, local e-mail clients use the Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3), an application-layer Internet standard protocol, to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. ...

Before the search engines censored themselves, many search engines had been blocked, namely Google and AltaVista.^[21] Technorati, a search engine for blogs, has been blocked.^[22] The name AltaVista refers both to an Internet search engine company and to that company’s search engine product. ... Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs, competing with Google, Yahoo and IceRocket. ...

Cernet

Several Bulletin Board Systems in universities were closed down or restricted public access since 2004, including the SMTH BBS and the YTHT BBS.^[23] BBS redirects here. ... Shuimu Tsinghua (Simplified Chinese: 水木清华; Pinyin: ; abbreviated SMTH) BBS is the first and most prestigious bulletin board system among Chinese universities. ... Yi Ta Hu Tu Bulletin Board System, or YTHT BBS, began on September 17, 1999, and was built by students in Peking University, Beijing, China. ...

Local businesses

Although blocking foreign sites has received much attention in the West, this is actually only a part of the PRC effort to censor the Internet. The ability to censor content providers within mainland China is much more effective, as the ISPs and other service providers are restricting customers' actions for fear of being found legally liable for customers' conduct. The service providers have assumed an editorial role with regard to customer content, thus became publishers, and legally responsible for libel and other torts committed by customers.

Although the government does not have the physical resources to monitor all Internet chat rooms and forums, the threat of being shut down has caused Internet content providers to employ internal staff, colloquially known as "big mamas", who stop and remove forum comments which may be politically sensitive. In Shenzhen, these duties are partly taken over by a pair of police-created cartoon characters, Jingjing and Chacha, who help extend the online 'police presence' of the Shenzhen authorities. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Shenzhen is a sub-provincial city of Guangdong province in southern China. ... Male Internet police officer Jingjing. ...

However, Internet content providers have adopted some counter-strategies. One is to post politically sensitive stories and remove them only when the government complains. In the hours or days in which the story is available online, people read it, and by the time the story is taken down, the information is already public. One notable case in which this occurred was in response to a school explosion in 2001, when local officials tried to suppress the fact the explosion resulted from children illegally producing fireworks. By the time local officials forced the story to be removed from the Internet, the news had already been widely disseminated. For other uses, see Fireworks (disambiguation). ...

In addition, Internet content providers often replace censored forum comments with white space which allows the reader to know that comments critical of the authorities had been submitted, and often to guess what they might have been.

In July 2007, the city of Xiamen announced it would ban anonymous online postings after text messages and online communications were used to rally protests against a proposed chemical plant in the city. Internet users will be required to provide proof of identify when posting messages on the more than 100,000 Web sites registered in Xiamen.^[24] A view of the Xiamen University campus Xiamen (Simplified Chinese: 厦门; Traditional Chinese: 廈門; Hanyu Pinyin: ) is a coastal sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian province, Peoples Republic of China. ...

Some hotels in China are also advising internet users to obey local Chinese internet access rules by leaving a list of internet rules and guidelines near the computers. These rules, among other things, forbid linking to politically unacceptable messages, and inform internet users that if they do, they will have to face legal consequences.^[25]

In September 2007, some data centers were shutting down indiscriminately for providing interactive features such as blogs and forums. CBS reports an estimate that half the interactive sites hosted in China were blocked. ^[26] To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Look up forum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about the broadcast network. ...

International corporations

One controversial issue is whether foreign companies should supply equipment which assists in the blocking of sites to the PRC government. Some argue that it is wrong for companies to profit from censorship including restrictions on freedom of the press and freedom of speech. Others argue that equipment being supplied, from companies such as the American based Cisco Systems Inc., is standard Internet infrastructure equipment and that providing this sort of equipment actually aids the flow of information, and that the PRC is fully able to create its own infrastructure without Western help. By contrast, human rights advocates such as Human Rights Watch and media groups such as Reporters Without Borders argue that if companies would stop contributing to the authorities' censorship efforts the government could be forced to change. “Cisco” redirects here. ... Human Rights Watch Banner Human Rights Watch is a United States-based international non-government organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. ... Reporters Without Borders, or RWB (French: Reporters sans frontières, Spanish: Reporteros Sin Fronteras, or RSF) is a French origin international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press, founded by its current general-secretary, Robert Menard. ...

A similar dilemma faces foreign content providers such as Yahoo!, AOL, Google and Skype who abide by PRC government wishes, including having internal content monitors, in order to be able to operate within mainland China. Also, in accordance with mainland Chinese laws, Microsoft began to censor the content of its blog service Windows Live Spaces, arguing continuing to provide Internet services is more beneficial to the Chinese.^[27] Michael Anti, a Chinese journalist whose blog on Windows Live Spaces was removed by Microsoft, agreed that the Chinese are better off with Windows Live Spaces than without it.^[28] Yahoo redirects here. ... For other uses, see AOL (disambiguation). ... This article is about the corporation. ... Skype (IPA: , rhymes with type) is a software program created by the entrepreneurs Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... Windows Live Spaces (also known by its users as MSN Spaces) is Microsofts blogging and Social Networking platform. ... Michael Anti (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is a Chinese journalist and political blogger, known for his posts about freedom of the press in China. ... Windows Live Spaces (also known by its users as MSN Spaces) is Microsofts blogging and Social Networking platform. ...

The Chinese version of MySpace, launched in April of 2007, has many censorship-related differences from other international versions of the service. Discussion forums on topics such as religion and politics are absent and a filtering system that prevents the posting of content about Taiwan independence, the Dalai Lama, Falun Gong, and other "inappropriate topics" has been added.^[29] Users are also given the ability to report the "misconduct" of other users for offenses including "endangering national security, leaking state secrets, subverting the government, undermining national unity, spreading rumors or disturbing the social order."^[30] MySpace is a social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos. ... Taiwan independence (traditional Chinese: ; simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: , Pe̍h-oē-jī: Tâi-oân To̍k-li̍p ūn-tōng; abbreviated to 台獨, Táidú, Tâi-to̍k) is a political movement whose goal is primarily to create an independent and sovereign Republic of Taiwan out of the... This article is about the Dalai Lama lineage. ... Falun Gong, (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally Practice of the Wheel of Law) also known as Falun Dafa, (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; lit. ...

Reactions

Legal action

May 9th 2007, Mr. Yetaai (冬劲) sued Shanghai Telecom, a sub-company of China Telecom, because one of his sites^{[citation needed]} was blocked from access in China. He then took a series of steps including raising maintenance request and notarization. His lawsuit was accepted by Pu Dong Court, Shanghai. Mr. Yetaai reported it through his online diary (English). He also raised an item for online ticketing through an article on Digg. Digg is a community-based popularity website with an emphasis on technology and science articles, recently expanding to a broader range of categories such as politics and entertainment. ...

Liberalization of sexually oriented content

Although restrictions on political information remain as strong as ever, several sexually oriented blogs began appearing in early 2004. Women using the web aliases Muzi Mei (木子美) and Zhuying Qingtong (竹影青瞳) wrote online diaries of their sex lives and became small celebrities. This was widely reported and criticized in mainland Chinese news media, and several of these bloggers' sites are blocked in China to this day. This has coincided with an artistic nude photography fad (including a self-published book by dancer Tang Jiali) and the appearance of pictures of minimally clad women or even topless photos in a few mainland Chinese newspapers, magazines and websites. It is too early to tell how far this trend will go, but increasingly, censorship is applicable to political content rather than to sexuality. This does not hold true for many dating and "adult chat" sites, both Chinese and foreign, which have been blocked. Some, however, continue to be accessible although this appears to be due more to the Chinese government's ignorance of their existence than any particular policy of leniency. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Muzi Mei Muzi Mei (木子美 Mùzǐ MÄ›i) or Mu Zimei or Mu Zi Mei or Muzimei (born 1978) is the alias (nom de plume) of a young female journalist and blogger from Guangzhou in the Peoples Republic of China, who became a notorious household name in China in... On January 5, 2004, a blogger named Zhuying Qingtong began to put her own nude photos on her personal blog and update them constantly. ... Tang Jiali (Simplified Chinese: 汤加丽; Traditional Chinese: 湯加麗; pinyin: ) (born July 13, 1976 in Hefei, Anhui) is a Chinese dancer and model who became a celebrity and household name in the Peoples Republic of China in 2003 by being the first woman to sell books of nude artistic photographs...

Corporate responsibility

On November 7, 2005 an alliance of investors and researchers representing twenty-six companies in the U.S., Europe and Australia with over US $21 billion in joint assets announced that they were urging businesses to protect freedom of expression and pledged to monitor technology companies that do business in countries violating human rights, such as China. On December 21, 2005 the UN, OSCE and OAS special mandates on freedom of expression called on Internet corporations to "work together ... to resist official attempts to control or restrict use of the Internet." is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the United Nations, for other uses of UN see UN (disambiguation) Official languages English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic Secretary-General Kofi Annan (since 1997) Established October 24, 1945 Member states 191 Headquarters New York City, NY, USA Official site http://www. ... The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is an international organization for security. ... Headquarters Washington, D.C. Official languages English, French, Spanish, Portuguese Membership 35 countries Leaders  -  Secretary General José Miguel Insulza (since 26 May 2005) Establishment  -  Charter first signed 30 April 1948 in effect 1 December 1951  Website http://www. ...

Efforts at breaking through

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can (September 2007).

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of

Transwiki:Bypassing the Great Firewall of China

The firewall is largely ineffective at preventing the flow of information and is rather easily circumvented by determined parties by using proxy servers outside the firewall. VPN and SSH connections to outside mainland China are not blocked, so circumventing all of the censorship and monitoring features of the Great Firewall of China is trivial for those who have these secure connection methods to computers outside mainland China available to them. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Image File history File links Wikibooks-logo-en. ... Wikibooks logo Wikibooks, previously called Wikimedia Free Textbook Project and Wikimedia-Textbooks, is a wiki for the creation of books. ... A proxy server is a computer network service which allows clients to make indirect network connections to other network services. ... A Virtual Private Network, or VPN, is a private communications network usually used within a company, or by several different companies or organizations, communicating over a public network. ... SSH redirects here. ...

Anonymizer, Inc. provides a free service to allow uncensored and anonymous browsing in China. The software is available through a number of sources, including a China-accessible website. This page may meet Wikipedia’s criteria for speedy deletion. ...

Psiphon^[31] is a software project designed by University of Toronto's Citizen Lab under the direction of Professor Ronald Deibert, Director of the Citizen Lab. Psiphon is a circumvention technology that works through social networks of trust and is designed to help Internet users bypass content-filtering systems set up by governments, such as China, North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and others. Psiphon is a web proxy designed to help Internet users affected by Internet censorship securely bypass content-filtering systems setup by governments such as China, Iran, North Korea, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and others. ... The University of Toronto (U of T) is a public research university in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ... The Citizen Lab [founded 2001] is an interdisciplinary research and development lab located at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto. ... Ronald J. Deibert (B.A., M.A., Ph. ... Not to be confused with social network services such as MySpace, etc. ... DansGuardian blocking whitehouse. ...

"We're aiming at giving people access to sites like Wikipedia," a free, user-maintained online encyclopedia, and other information and news sources, Michael Hull, psiphon's lead engineer, told CBC News Online.^[32]

Neither the Tor website nor the Tor network are blocked, making Tor (in conjunction with Privoxy) an easily acquired and effective tool for circumvention of the censorship controls. Tor maintains a public list of entry nodes, so the authorities could easily block it if they had the inclination. According to the Tor FAQ sections 6.4 and 7.9, Tor is vulnerable to timing analysis by Chinese authorities, so it allows a breach of anonymity. Thus for the moment, Tor allows uncensored downloads and uploads, although no guarantee can be made with regard to freedom from repercussions. Tor (The Onion Router) is a free software implementation of second-generation onion routing – a system enabling its users to communicate anonymously on the Internet. ... Privoxy is a web proxy program, frequently used in combination with Tor and Squid. ...

In addition to Tor, there are various HTTP/HTTPS Tunnel Services, which work in a similar way as Tor. At least one of them, Your Freedom, is confirmed to be working from China and also offers encryption features for the transmitted traffic. Tor (The Onion Router) is a free software implementation of second-generation onion routing – a system enabling its users to communicate anonymously on the Internet. ... HTTP (for HyperText Transfer Protocol) is the primary method used to convey information on the World Wide Web. ... https is a URI scheme used to indicate a secure HTTP connection. ... Tor (The Onion Router) is a free software implementation of second-generation onion routing – a system enabling its users to communicate anonymously on the Internet. ...

It was common in the past to use Google's cache feature to view blocked websites. However, this feature of Google seems to be under some level of blocking, as access is now erratic and does not work for blocked websites. Currently the block is mostly circumvented by using proxy servers outside the firewall, and is not difficult to carry out for those determined to do so. Some well-known proxy servers have also been blocked. This article is about the corporation. ...

Some Chinese citizens used the Google mirror elgooG after China blocked Google. It is believed that elgooG survived the Great Firewall of China because the firewall operators thought that elgooG was not a fully functional version of Google. elgooG Logo elgooG is a mirror image (a flipped around image version) of the Google search engine. ...

As Falun Gong websites are generally inaccessible from mainland China, practitioners have launched a company named UltraReach Internet Corp and developed a piece of software named UltraSurf to enable people in mainland China to access restricted web sites via Internet Explorer without being detected. Falun Gong, (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally Practice of the Wheel of Law) also known as Falun Dafa, (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; lit. ...

Other techniques used include Freenet, a peer-to-peer distributed data store allowing members to anonymously send or retrieve information, and TriangleBoy. For other uses, see Freenet (disambiguation) Freenet is a decentralized censorship-resistant peer-to-peer distributed data store aiming to provide electronic freedom of speech through strong anonymity. ... A peer-to-peer (or P2P) computer network is a network that relies on the computing power and bandwidth of the participants in the network rather than concentrating it in a relatively few servers. ... A distributed data store is a network in which a user stores his or her information on a number of peer network nodes. ... TriangleBoy is a proxying tool designed to allow users to get around firewalls and censorship, and anonymously visit web sites. ...

Browsing Wikipedia is also possible with a custom browser called Gollum, which can be used without installing it. At present, the Chinese government has not banned searching for Gollum on Google. Gollum Browser is a simplified Web browser that only opens articles from Wikipedia. ...

Another application that can be used is Freegate. This article is considered orphaned, since there are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...

See also

• Blocking of Wikipedia in mainland China
• Censorship in the People's Republic of China
• Internet in the People's Republic of China
• Media of the People's Republic of China
• Digital divide in the People's Republic of China
• International Freedom of Expression Exchange - monitors Internet censorship in China
• Human rights in the People's Republic of China
• Internet brigades
• Öser

On several occasions, the government and Internet service providers of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) have blocked Wikipedia in mainland China due to strict censorship laws enacted by the PRC. The blocks function in a similar way to a content filter. ... Censorship in the Peoples Republic of China is the limiting or suppressing of the publishing, dissemination, and viewing of certain information in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... The first connection of the Peoples Republic of China with the Internet was established in March 28, 1988 between ICA Beijing and Karlsruhe University in Germany, under the leadership of Prof. ... Within the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), there is heavy government involvement in the media, with many of the largest media organizations (namely CCTV, the Peoples Daily, and Xinhua) being agencies of the government of the PRC. There are certain taboos and red lines within the media in... // The term digital divide refers to the gap between those with regular, effective access to Digital and information technology, and those without this access. ... International Freedom of Expression eXchange. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Internet brigades (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: Russian: ) [1][2] are state-sponsored information warfare teams that conduct psychological operations on-line. ... Öser (also written Woeser; Tibetan: འོད་ཟེར་; Wylie: Od-zer; Simplified Chinese: 唯色; pinyin: Wéisè) (born 1966) is a Tibetan poet and essayist. ...

References

Human Rights Watch Banner Human Rights Watch is a United States-based international non-government organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 242nd day of the year (243rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 165th day of the year (166th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... On several occasions, the government and Internet service providers of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) have blocked Wikipedia in mainland China due to strict censorship laws enacted by the PRC. The blocks function in a similar way to a content filter. ... For other uses, see Guardian. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... For other uses, see 5th October (Serbia). ... Ars Technica is a technology-related website catering to PC enthusiasts. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... For other uses, see 5th October (Serbia). ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Christian Science Monitor (CSM) is an international newspaper published daily, Monday through Friday. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 364th day of the year (365th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 113th day of the year (114th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally. ... Googles homepage in 1998 This article covers the history of Google, the popular web-based search engine. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... China Digital Times is a participatory media portal about China. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 79th day of the year (80th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 188th day of the year (189th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 189th day of the year (190th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 168th day of the year (169th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 206th day of the year (207th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 242nd day of the year (243rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 101st day of the year (102nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 116th day of the year (117th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Wikinews has related news:

Bi-directional Censorship from the Great Firewall of China

Official websites Image File history File links WikiNews-Logo. ... Wikinews is a free-content news source and a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. ...

• Cyberpolice.cn - Ministry of Public Security P.R.China Information & Network Security

News reports

• China Internet Explainer CNN
• The Development and the State Control of the Chinese Internet by Xiao Qiang, Director, China Internet Project, The Graduate School of Journalism, University of California at Berkeley, 14 April 2005
• The Epoch Times | Communist Internet Censorship an "Internationally Common Practice"? 20 February 2006
• Blogging on report on blogging in China, 16 Mar 2006
• Behind China's internet Red Firewall BBC, 3 September 2002
• China's Internet Censorship 3 December 2002
• People's Republic of China: State control of the Internet Amnesty International, 27 February 2002
• Cherry, Steven (2005). "The Net Effect: As China's Internet gets a much-needed makeover, will the new network promote freedom or curtail it?". IEEE Spectrum Online (2005).
• Tao, Wenzhao (2001). "Censorship and protest: The regulation of BBS in China People Daily". First Monday, v.6, n.1 (January 2001).
• Walton, Greg. China's Golden Shield. International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, 2001.
• Tsui, Lokman (2001). "Big Mama is Watching You: Internet Control by the Chinese government". Unpublished MA thesis, University of Leiden.
• Internet Filtering in China in 2004-2005: A Country Study, from the OpenNet Initiative (Also available as an Adobe PDF file here).
• CHINA: Government blocks religious websites Forum 18 News, 21 July 2004
• The Click That Broke a Government's Grip The Washington Post, 19 February 2006
• Clayton, Murdoch, and Watson (2006). "Ignoring the Great Firewall of China". Privacy Enhancing Technologies Workshop, Cambridge, UK. To appear in workshop proceedings.
• The Internet "black holes" - China Reporters sans frontières - Internet press releases from 2002 to 2007
• Crandall, Zinn, Byrd, Barr, and East (2007). "ConceptDoppler: A Weather Tracker for Internet Censorship". ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security, Alexandria, VA, USA. To appear in conference proceedings.

Analysis IEEE Spectrum is a magazine edited by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. ... “PDF” redirects here. ...

• WebSitePulse.com - Website Test behind the Great Firewall of China
• Translation of the Filtered Key Words in Chinese Cyberspace 24 June 2005