In Rare Briefing, China Defends Internet Controls

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Thaths <thaths () gmail com>
Date: February 14, 2006 6:45:12 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: In Rare Briefing, China Defends Internet Controls

Dave, for IP, if you want.

Since we are discussing the censorship of the Internet by the Chinese
government, this might be relevant to the discussion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/international/asia/14cnd-china.html? 
ei=5088&en=d7e5e2b0d90db3eb&ex=1297573200&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewan 
ted=print

By JOSEPH KAHN

BEIJING, Feb. 14 — Chinese authorities are determined to stop "harmful
information" from spreading through the Internet, but the controls it
places on Web sites and Internet service providers in mainland China
do not differ much from those employed by the United States and
European countries, a senior Chinese official responsible for managing
the Internet said today.

The official, Liu Zhengrong, who supervises Internet affairs for the
information office of the Chinese State Council, or cabinet, did not
dispute charges that China operates a technologically sophisticated
firewall to protect the ruling Communist Party against what it treats
as Web-based challenges from people inside China and abroad.

But he sought to place the massive Chinese efforts to control the Web
in the best possible light, stressing repeatedly that Chinese Internet
minders abide strictly by laws and regulations that in some cases have
been modeled on American and European statutes.

"If you study the main international practices in this regard you will
find that China is basically in compliance with the international
norm," he said. "The main purposes and methods of implementing our
laws are basically the same."

...

Mr. Liu said the major thrust of the Chinese effort to regulate
content on the Web was aimed at preventing the spread of pornography
or other content harmful to teenagers and children. He said that its
concerns in this area differ minimally from those in developed
countries.

Human rights and media watchdog groups maintain that Chinese Web
censorship puts greater emphasis on helping the ruling party maintain
political control over its increasingly restive society. Such groups
have demonstrated that many hundreds of Web sites cannot be easily
accessed inside mainland China mainly because they are operated by
governments, religious groups or political organizations that are
critical of Chinese government policies or its political leaders.

Mr. Liu said that Chinese Internet users have free rein to discuss
many politically sensitive topics and rejected charges that the police
have arrested or prosecuted people for using the Internet to circulate
views.

...

He cited, for example, statements on Web sites run by The New York
Times and The Washington Post that reserve the right to delete or
block content in reader discussion groups that editors determine to be
illegal, harmful or in bad taste. Chinese media Web sites are also
monitored in that way, he said.

"Major U.S. companies do this and it is regarded as normal," Mr. Liu
said. "So why should China not be entitled to do so?"

...

Mr. Liu also said the powers that the Bush administrations gained
under the Patriot Act to monitor Web sites and e-mail communications
and the deployment of technology called Carnival by the F.B.I., which
allows it to scrutinize huge volumes of e-mail traffic, are examples
of how the United States has taken legal steps to guard against the
spread of "harmful information" online.

"It is clear that any country's legal authorities closely monitor the
spread of illegal information," he said. "We have noted that the U.S.
is doing a good job on this front."

The Bush administration has maintained that its efforts to monitor
online communications pertain mainly to preventing terrorist attacks.

...

--
"Bart! With $10,000 we'd be millionaires! We could buy all kinds of
       useful things... like love." -- Homer J. Simpson

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