China Censors the Net

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November 2008
- China Nixes Chinese Democracy
  
  Wall Street Journal | Nov 22, 08 9:08 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - China's government-owned music monopoly has told record stores not to waste their time trying to order the first new Guns N' Roses album in 17 years, the Wall Street Journal reports. Officials say the title alone— Chinese Democracy —would probably be enough to doom it, but a reference to the banned Falun Gong movement finishes the job. More »
- Cop-Killer in China Inspires Strong Public Support
  
  Washington Post | Nov 14, 08 10:32 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Public sentiment in China seems to be coming down squarely on the side of a man convicted of entering a Shanghai police station and stabbing six officers to death, the Washington Post reports. Yang Jia, who confessed to the murders, had twice claimed to be the victim of police brutality; now countrymen fed up with abusive state security services are protesting his death sentence. More »
- China to Declare 'Internet Addicts' Sick
  
  Guardian (UK) | Nov 12, 08 1:45 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - China is about to become the first nation in the world to officially declare "internet addiction" a clinical disorder, reports the Guardian . Citizens hooked on the web may face treatment that includes military-style discipline, hypnosis, electro-shock therapy and drugs, reports the Guardian. The totalitarian Chinese authorities have repeatedly attempted to suppress internet use, and the latest move appears to be another means of doing so, observers say. More »
October 2008
- China Cracks Down on Internet Cafes
  
  Times (UK) | Oct 17, 08 6:29 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - China has resumed a strict crackdown on Internet users less than two months after the Olympic Games, ending the more relaxed regulations that accompanied the international spotlight, reports the Times of London. All visitors to Internet cafes in Beijing will be required to have their photograph taken, reports the Times of London. All photos and identity cards will be scanned into a database maintained by China's Cultural Law Enforcement Task Force. More »
- China's Great, Baffling Failure: Public Relations
  
  Atlantic Monthly | Oct 16, 08 5:00 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - It’s no secret that China is moving into position as a global superpower, writes James Fallows in the Atlantic , and this only further highlights its leaders’ baffling inability to understand how the country is viewed from the outside—and how to change those opinions for the better. Officials just don’t understand “the crass value of cultivating the press,” he writes. More »
August 2008
- Twitter Helps Chinese Blogger Tell His Story
  
  Globe and Mail | Aug 14, 08 8:06 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Twitter gets a bad rap for its often less-than-substantive musings, but every now and then the service proves its "true potential" as an Internet tool, writes Mathew Ingram in the Toronto Globe and Mail . Case in point: When a Chinese citizen journalist recently traveled to Beijing, the authorities hustled him out of the city on false pretenses. Fellow Twitterers picked up his story and translated his posts. More »
- Media at Full Boil Over China Restrictions
  
  Der Spiegel | Aug 5, 08 4:40 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - As the Beijing Games draw near, journalists are worrying about the Chinese government's handling of a swarm of international reporters in an otherwise heavily censored society. Der Spiegel compiles commentaries from varying German sources, all of which agree that the decision to award China the 2008 Olympics was misguided at best. More »
- China Lowers Internet Firewall
  
  Time | Aug 1, 08 8:22 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Facing pressure from the Olympics, Beijing lowered its so-called Great Firewall today to allow access to some news and human rights websites, Time reports. But other sites—like those supporting Tibetan independence or the outlawed spiritual group Falun Gong—remain off-limits in China. And "everyone knows that the minute the circus is over, the walls will be put straight up again," one Chinese scholar said. More »
June 2008
- US Firms Complicit as China Fortifies Police State
  
  Rolling Stone | Jun 2, 08 5:28 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Free Tibet protests 3 months ago allowed China to road-test a new security network before the summer Olympics, Naomi Klein writes in Rolling Stone . Under the so-called “Golden Shield,” China is now installing closed-circuit cameras nationwide linked to facial recognition and other biometric software—technology from big-name US firms like IBM, Honeywell, and General Electric. More »
May 2008
- China Won't Stop Censoring Web for Olympics
  
  Ars Technica | May 8, 08 2:37 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - China apparently will continue to censor the Internet during August's Olympics, but says the international press will have the access it needs to function, Jacqui Cheng writes on Ars Technica. Officials said they would guarantee as much access “as possible,” but “controls on some unhealthy websites” would continue. In defense, they said, “every country limits access to some websites.” More »
April 2008
- 4 Months to Go: Is China Ready for Spotlight?
  
  Chicago Tribune | Apr 13, 08 4:11 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The last-minute drama brewing in the runup to this summer's Olympic Games is of a more global and more personal nature than the infrastructure issues of Olympics past—and Chinese leaders are bristling under the scrutiny, the Chicago Tribune reports. But pride in the country's hosting gig remains strong, even among the impoverished workers who could never afford a ticket. More »
- China Wikipedia Access Not So Impressive
  
  Ars Technica | Apr 7, 08 1:55 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - It's good for Chinese Internet users that the government has lifted bans on Wikipedia and Blogspot, but the move isn't the great breakthrough it may seem to be. If the policy change was intended to fulfill requests from the International Olympic Committee for an open internet, it falls well short of any actual freedom of information, writes Jacqui Cheng for Ars Technica. More »
- Beijing Eases Limits on Wikipedia
  
  Reuters | Apr 5, 08 11:12 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Prodded by the International Olympic Committee, China has seemingly eased restrictions on the English-language version of Wikipedia, Reuters reports. But authorities continue to block access to articles related to sensitive topics such as Tibet and Tiananmen Square. Users in Shanghai and Beijing, the site of the summer Olympics, reported being able to view some pages on the popular web encyclopedia. More »
- Chinese Get No Independent News on Tibet
  
  Christian Science Monitor | Apr 2, 08 1:46 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - China's media outlets have been getting their information about the recent unrest in Tibet solely from the state-controlled news agency, Xinhua. As a result, most Chinese citizens are buying the government's handling of what has been portrayed as mob violence plotted from abroad—when it's been covered at all, the Christian Science Monitor reports. More »
March 2008
- China Blacklists Video Sites
  
  Reuters | Mar 20, 08 8:25 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - China shuttered 25 video-sharing websites today and warned numerous others, as authorities moved to enforce stricter controls on online content announced late last year, Reuters reports. Chinese video heavyweight Tudou.com was among those that received a warning to eliminate pornographic and political material. "We're working hard to upgrade our systems to catch everything that needs to be caught," said Tudou’s VP. More »
February 2008

News Sections

Newser Specials

Stories

China Nixes Chinese Democracy

Cop-Killer in China Inspires Strong Public Support

China to Declare 'Internet Addicts' Sick

China Cracks Down on Internet Cafes

China's Great, Baffling Failure: Public Relations

Twitter Helps Chinese Blogger Tell His Story

Media at Full Boil Over China Restrictions

China Lowers Internet Firewall

US Firms Complicit as China Fortifies Police State

China Won't Stop Censoring Web for Olympics

4 Months to Go: Is China Ready for Spotlight?

China Wikipedia Access Not So Impressive

Beijing Eases Limits on Wikipedia

Chinese Get No Independent News on Tibet

China Blacklists Video Sites