Rebecca MacKinnon: China's Censorship 2.0 - How companies censor bloggers

Rebecca MacKinnon of the University of Hong Kong's Journalism and Media Studies Centre, has posted the following presentation on the methods of censorship employed by the Great Fire Wall of China (GFW, 金盾工程, jīndùn gōngchéng, or "Golden Shield") implications for the public and activists. The main points from her presentation are summarized below.


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In my presentation I offer several conclusions to be drawn from what was a very experimental and relatively small-scale project:

• Internet filtering (“the great firewall”) is only one part of Chinese Internet censorship.
• Domestic web censorship is not centralized at all.
• Domestic web censorship is outsourced by government to the private sector.
• Domestic web censorship is inconsistent - if you can't post successfully in one place, it's usually possible to post your content somewhere else, at least for at least a while.
• The system of “managing” user-generated web content in China appears to follow a similar logic and approach as the system for controlling professional news media.

When I write my paper those will be elaborated upon. I also identified a number of implications for researching Chinese censorship "inside the great firewall:"

• Need larger-scale studies of domestic web censorship (including chat rooms, social networking sites, instant-messaging, mobile services)
• Unlike automated ?ltering tests, these tests require manual testing and constant analysis by Chinese speakers with contextual knowledge - it is tedious work requiring attention to detail.
• Need surveys of web service company employees.
• Need surveys of users and bloggers about their experiences.

The findings also have implications for activists:

• Circumvention is important but it's not the solution to the whole censorship problem.
• Need to educate bloggers and netizens about strategies for successfully disseminating information online about politically sensitive subjects
• Need to do more to foster a global “user rights” movement demanding greater transparency and accountability by Internet companies on privacy and free expression. The Global Network Initiative is a good start in this regard but we need much more.

There is also a set of more global questions:

• Where else in the world is this kind of political censorship by web service companies of user- generated content happening? (Companies in the West already censor for child porn, copyright violations and sometimes hate speech.)
• Will the “Chinese model” - in which governments demand censorship by web companies - spread globally?
• What issues in this vein should the advocacy community be preparing for?
• What further research needs to be done to better understand global trends?