Friday, February 13, 2009

Censorship of the Internet

With the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, one of the main concerns on everyone's mind, besides how many gold medals Phelps had already won once he stepped off the plane, was the issue of censorship of the media, specifically the internet, by the Chinese government.

Chinese censorship of the internet is an issue that is causing unrest both in China and abroad. According to Amnesty International, China has the greatest number of both journalists and cyber dissidents in the world. However, the internet, being an infinite media, has resisted being completely censored in China. For the most part the censorship in China is very random, one site may be blocked, while another much like it can continue to be viewed.

The question that all of this poses is: How does censorship affect the internet as a third space?, and what effect does this discrepancy in information between Chinese nationals and other citizens of the world have on the Chinese? 

The most easily observable answer is that the loss of the internet as an impartial third space causes civil unrest. Surveys show that the Chinese people have the biggest problem with internet censorship on the local level. Local leaders are seen in many parts of China as self-serving and corrupt, censoring information that could compromise their standing. As a result, both arrests for cyber crime and protests regarding internet censorship policies have increased.

What result does all of this have on the Chinese people? One can only speculate. My intuition, however, seems to be that the suppression of information could only hurt the Chinese people as a whole, and that not having everyone being able to access all of the information on the internet could lead to the slowing of both social and technological reforms.


Sources: How far will unrest escalate in 2009,http://www.forbes.com/feeds/reuters/2009/02/13/2009-02-13T061027Z_01_PEK313988_RTRIDST_0_CHINA-UNREST-SCENARIOS.html

Nude Art Clothed in Response to China's Internet Policies,http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jxRYLKnNseBAxHBNG7lUzSdF13tw

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