Here’s How China Censors The Internet

[Wilikon]

The first large-scale experimental study of web censorship in China is now revealing what the government suppresses and what it permits online. The researchers even went undercover, creating their own social media site in China to reverse-engineer how the country manipulates information.

The Chinese government has implemented what watchdog group Freedom House calls “the most elaborate system for Internet content control in the world,” deploying hundreds of thousands of people to control the flow of information in China. In previous research, political scientist Jennifer Pan at Harvard University and her colleagues analyzed more than 11 million social media posts from nearly 1,400 websites across China. “And often times when we went back to posts, we found they were not there, which made us realize we had this collection of texts that had been censored by the state,” she says.

To get a clearer picture of China’s censorship, the researchers created accounts at 100 different social media sites geographically spread across China. These included 97 of the top blogging sites in the country, representing 87 percent of blog posts. Creating accounts on some of these sites required users to be in China at specific locales or to have local email addresses, so the scientists relied on a team of research assistants in China, many of whom remain anonymous.

The researchers wrote a total of 1,200 blog posts about events in the news in 2013. They were cautious to avoid disturbing the normal flow of Chinese society, a principle they compared to Star Trek’s Prime Directive —by writing posts similar to real ones written by people in China. Events they covered included how Qui Cuo, a 20-year-old mother, immolated herself to protest China’s repressive policies over Tibet, and how protesters in Fujian demanded greater compensation from officials who requisitioned their farmland to build a golf course.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/news/the-surprising-way-in-which-china-censors-the-internet-17119552?click=pm_latest

[Chef Ramsay]

Interestingly, on facebook I was somehow befriended by this lady in China back in 2010 and for a while she'd be in my chat box and we'd go back and forth. Then after a while, it just seemed like her account went frozen or something and that's the last I ever heard of her. Seems like China keeps a better lid on their country w/ the internet than the DPRK does w/o it.

[virtualx]

China is a test-bed for surveillance technology that will be later deployed in the US and elsewhere. For example, the Chinese firewall was made by an american corporation.
They still need to employ thousands of people to do it, so information does get trough.

[boraf]

Don't suppose anon browser and vpn work in China to by pass censorship?

[247crypto]

Do they provide some data for .UA?

People are just in prison for blogging/forum posts.

[Balthazar]

Seems like China keeps a better lid on their country w/ the internet than the DPRK does w/o it.

It's interesting that there was a free internet access until 2005. Yep, there were many public computers with internet access in the center of DPRK capital city, but later the legislation have been strictly tightened... And now only officials and employees of commercial organizations have access to the internet. Though many people surf the Internet illegally through chinese mobile networks. You can connect to the chinese mobile networks on the significant parts of North Korean territory.

[kuusj98]

Seems like China keeps a better lid on their country w/ the internet than the DPRK does w/o it.

It's interesting that there was a free internet access until 2005. Yep, there were many public computers with internet access in the center of DPRK capital city, but later the legislation have been strictly tightened... And now only officials and employees of commercial organizations have access to the internet. Though many people surf the Internet illegally through chinese mobile networks. You can connect to the chinese mobile networks on the significant parts of North Korean territory.

But why would they illegalize access to a PC? China and North-Korea is just 1 big pile of mess, which needs to be put to order.

[Balthazar]

But why would they illegalize access to a PC?

What do you mean? There is no problem to use PC, but there is a limitation of internet usage. You need a special license if you wish to use internet, and only legal entity or government official are able to receive it. However, they have own national network... The most of sites in the internal DPRK network are providing technical documentation, textbooks, music, etc. If you need some specific information then you can send official request to upload a copy of specified site into national network... It usually takes some time to check the content, of course.

China and North-Korea is just 1 big pile of mess, which needs to be put to order.

Just try to imagine, somebody breaks in through your door and starts helping you to satisfy your girlfriend "in right way" to "put things in the right order"

Such way of thinking is a biggest mistake of western people. Their desire to "put the things in order" or "help" is a reason of the most disasters in the Middle East and beyond. Eventually you will have to understand that it doesn't matter what the president or the prime minister are saying on the television. Western civilization isn't the only one, there are a lot of different people with own values. Like it or not, but they're sovereign subjects of international law under legitimate governments, and they haven't asked you for any kind of "help". They are capable to find out what and why they need to do.