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First published in the "Legal Daily", a communist party official in charge of law and order is quoted as saying "There is a rising trend online for illegal activities," and therefor the decision has been made to "put Internet content in order".
This seems to be a topic that is raised by Chinese Government Officials every now and then and one does wonder about the effectivenes of such announcements and whether they are meant more for political purposes.
The most interesting sentence in the article is however the last one quoteing Nielsen/NetRatings as saying that "56.6 million Chinese are living in Internet-connected homes, making China second only to the United States in the number of home Internet users," up from my 2001 figure in the China Overview [webmasterworld.com] of 22,5 million.
Related Topics
China Overview [webmasterworld.com]
China Orders Clampdown [webmasterworld.com]
China Net use Soars [webmasterworld.com]
Chinese Market Advice [webmasterworld.com]
Onya
Woz
>gettting tough with 'harmful' Internet content
Do you see any chance for Chinese government to effectively control home users surfing habits?
Well, considering China holds 1/4 of the World Population, or 4 times that of the US, then there is a vast difference between Growth Percentages, and Raw Numbers. Suffice it to say that according to those figures, the new subscribers last year are more then the total population of Australia. The growth potential in terms of raw numbers is staggering even if they don't get their act together as BoL suggests.
As to whether the Government can control surfing habits, Yes and No.
Firstly, we are all familiar with the common saying that "Justice must not only be done it must also be seen to be done". We are all also aware of the short comings of political systems in any country, but some seem worse than others.
China, to a certain extent, operates on the premise that if things are seen to be done, then the assumption is that they ARE being done, which is not necessarily the case. To effectivly and completely police the net is impossible for any country, more so for those with underdeveloped infrastructure. China falls into the latter category although attempts are made to be seen going through the motions. Brett calls it Smoke and Mirrors.
Having said that, the attempts to control are real and the dangers are very real. When I was living there I was very careful about what I sent through my emails, and on more than one occasion posted comments on these very fora with my heart in my throat. I was also somewhat paranoid for fear of wandering into the more picturesque areas of the web by mistake for fear of swift retibution.
Still, I love the country and it's people.
Onya
Woz
