HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- China this past week released a list of major online portals and Web sits that it claims provide and spread pornographic or obscene content, state media reported.
Rebecca MacKinnon, co-founder of Global Voices, an assistant professor of journalism at Hong Kong University, a former CNN correspondent and an observer of China and the Internet, recently discussed with CNN the move by Beijing.
CNN: Is this affecting Web sites in Hong Kong?
MacKinnon: Not to my knowledge, as mainland China and Hong Kong operate on separate jurisdictions. Of course in Hong Kong there is a review on obscene articles ordinances and debate on how such content should be censored. But again, they are completely separate countries.
There are some Web sites in Mainland China that have Hong Kong investments that would be affected, but this is a one country two systems policy.
Mainland China crackdown on porn is not reaching offices and Web sites in Hong Kong, as their forms of censorship do not extend to Hong Kong.
CNN: Has there been any noticeable impact on web access (in Mainland China, or anywhere) from the clampdown? How do you know?
MacKinnon: This crackdown isn't related to filtering, there are types of censorship in place. One kind of censorship is blocking overseas Web sites.
However the crackdown on Monday, performed by six different government departments, relates to a different type of censorship. This is aiming for Web sites that operate inside of China. It's not a matter of blocking Web sites it's telling the offices to delete some content.
CNN: How effective (in general) would China's actions be?
MacKinnon: I cannot give you a good stance to compare, as I don't look at porn, so it's hard for me to give a good sense of that. The crackdown listed 19 different Chinese Web sites some were foreign investments (e.g. Google). They basically said there was too much inappropriate material, or "low and vulgar" content, and sites need to clean up their act.
Three Chinese Web sites apologized and created a hot line to report it. On Tuesday, three editors at Netease, based in South China, were dismissed as a result of content appeared. Chinese Web site companies are definitely jumping to clean it.
Google China, on their blog earlier this week, apologized and talked to the public about what they're doing in China and explained they're removing the inappropriate content. They even set up a hot line and support e-mail to allow users to report any inappropriate content. Netease, Baidou and Sina had also done the same thing and have all apologized. Companies are doing their best to comply with what they've been told.
This is not related to Internet access at all, it's not affecting people's ability to access other material. However, people could argue that the technology they use to censor sexual content can also be used clean up political censorship however there is no direct evidence to show it.
People in the industry know how difficult it is to totally clean up smutty material. Companies could try and there would be campaigns happening from time to time. But it's pretty much impossible for Chinese companies to eliminate smutty material completely off the Internet, it's too difficult. To eliminate absolutely everything is impossible. Companies are saying they'll need to add more staff, beef up more technology. It already increases their costs, when they're trying to comply with Government demands.
CNN: When other countries have taken similar actions how effective have they been?
MacKinnon: A lot of countries are filtering Internet pornography or "smut" on the Internet. Take a look at the Open Net Initiative (Open.net), they show systematic studies on Internet filtering around the world. There are several dozen countries that filter the Internet on a national basis. They range from Thailand to India to Turkey.
Australia is, in fact, in the process of filtering. UK had blocked Wikipedia, because it contained an image on an album cover of a child that appeared offensive. The United States is in the process of discussing whether or not they should provide free Internet access nationwide but censor se. However, the idea of censoring inappropriate content ties with debates on who has the power to decide what is appropriate and what is not. Sometimes they don't even block sites that display sexually explicit material, for example when I went to a mall (IFC) in Hong Kong, I noticed Global Voices was blocks there, and Global Voices does not contain any sort of sexual content.
Internet censorship is happening all over the world and it's growing.
CNN: What do you think prompted this action by China?
MacKinnon: There are crackdowns from time to time. Generally, before Chinese New Year, there is some sort of anti-porn crackdown that takes place. It's a seasonal thing, not many people are entirely shocked. There was a crackdown on an online video site, which resulted to a 24 hour shutdown. Companies in China have expectations of these sorts of things and prepare to deal with it.
CNN: Please explain the "Great Firewall of China."
MacKinnon: This crackdown doesn't have anything to do with the Great Firewall of China. However, it was a term coined by Chinese Internet users to describe the process of Internet filtering. Internet filtering is a technical term of blocking access to Web sites. Certain Web sites are blacklisted and accessing it in China becomes difficult, as you will get an error message or your network connection will die for a while. A way to get around is using proxies. This was what some people experience in China when they try to access certain content. An example of this was the events of Tibet where Web sites such as humanitarian Web sites could not be accessed.
CNN: Is more content getting through what is known as the "Great Firewall of China"?
Most Chinese users do not use proxies anyway, however it is difficult to do a full-fledged survey to find out since it is a very sensitive topic. Although you cannot get definitive numbers, analysts look at Chinese Internet behavior by observing Internet users and it appears that only small percentage uses proxies to circumvent certain blacklisted Web sites. And those users are usually foreigners trying to access their favorite blogs. However, there is so much interesting content that is not blocked and most people find it too much of a hassle to use proxies. Learn more on how China filters the Internet »
Is it true that China has the most Internet users in the world? What are the stats on that and does that include Hong Kong?
The official Chinese Government statistics show that in the middle of 2008, 253 million Internet users exist in China (more than the United States). You can also look at China Internet Network Society, which statistics on all kinds of Internet use in China
Rebecca MacKinnon, co-founder of Global Voices, an assistant professor of journalism at Hong Kong University, a former CNN correspondent and an observer of China and the Internet, recently discussed with CNN the move by Beijing.
CNN: Is this affecting Web sites in Hong Kong?
MacKinnon: Not to my knowledge, as mainland China and Hong Kong operate on separate jurisdictions. Of course in Hong Kong there is a review on obscene articles ordinances and debate on how such content should be censored. But again, they are completely separate countries.
There are some Web sites in Mainland China that have Hong Kong investments that would be affected, but this is a one country two systems policy.
Mainland China crackdown on porn is not reaching offices and Web sites in Hong Kong, as their forms of censorship do not extend to Hong Kong.
CNN: Has there been any noticeable impact on web access (in Mainland China, or anywhere) from the clampdown? How do you know?
MacKinnon: This crackdown isn't related to filtering, there are types of censorship in place. One kind of censorship is blocking overseas Web sites.
However the crackdown on Monday, performed by six different government departments, relates to a different type of censorship. This is aiming for Web sites that operate inside of China. It's not a matter of blocking Web sites it's telling the offices to delete some content.
CNN: How effective (in general) would China's actions be?
MacKinnon: I cannot give you a good stance to compare, as I don't look at porn, so it's hard for me to give a good sense of that. The crackdown listed 19 different Chinese Web sites some were foreign investments (e.g. Google). They basically said there was too much inappropriate material, or "low and vulgar" content, and sites need to clean up their act.
Three Chinese Web sites apologized and created a hot line to report it. On Tuesday, three editors at Netease, based in South China, were dismissed as a result of content appeared. Chinese Web site companies are definitely jumping to clean it.
Google China, on their blog earlier this week, apologized and talked to the public about what they're doing in China and explained they're removing the inappropriate content. They even set up a hot line and support e-mail to allow users to report any inappropriate content. Netease, Baidou and Sina had also done the same thing and have all apologized. Companies are doing their best to comply with what they've been told.
This is not related to Internet access at all, it's not affecting people's ability to access other material. However, people could argue that the technology they use to censor sexual content can also be used clean up political censorship however there is no direct evidence to show it.
People in the industry know how difficult it is to totally clean up smutty material. Companies could try and there would be campaigns happening from time to time. But it's pretty much impossible for Chinese companies to eliminate smutty material completely off the Internet, it's too difficult. To eliminate absolutely everything is impossible. Companies are saying they'll need to add more staff, beef up more technology. It already increases their costs, when they're trying to comply with Government demands.
CNN: When other countries have taken similar actions how effective have they been?
MacKinnon: A lot of countries are filtering Internet pornography or "smut" on the Internet. Take a look at the Open Net Initiative (Open.net), they show systematic studies on Internet filtering around the world. There are several dozen countries that filter the Internet on a national basis. They range from Thailand to India to Turkey.
Australia is, in fact, in the process of filtering. UK had blocked Wikipedia, because it contained an image on an album cover of a child that appeared offensive. The United States is in the process of discussing whether or not they should provide free Internet access nationwide but censor se. However, the idea of censoring inappropriate content ties with debates on who has the power to decide what is appropriate and what is not. Sometimes they don't even block sites that display sexually explicit material, for example when I went to a mall (IFC) in Hong Kong, I noticed Global Voices was blocks there, and Global Voices does not contain any sort of sexual content.
Internet censorship is happening all over the world and it's growing.
CNN: What do you think prompted this action by China?
MacKinnon: There are crackdowns from time to time. Generally, before Chinese New Year, there is some sort of anti-porn crackdown that takes place. It's a seasonal thing, not many people are entirely shocked. There was a crackdown on an online video site, which resulted to a 24 hour shutdown. Companies in China have expectations of these sorts of things and prepare to deal with it.
CNN: Please explain the "Great Firewall of China."
MacKinnon: This crackdown doesn't have anything to do with the Great Firewall of China. However, it was a term coined by Chinese Internet users to describe the process of Internet filtering. Internet filtering is a technical term of blocking access to Web sites. Certain Web sites are blacklisted and accessing it in China becomes difficult, as you will get an error message or your network connection will die for a while. A way to get around is using proxies. This was what some people experience in China when they try to access certain content. An example of this was the events of Tibet where Web sites such as humanitarian Web sites could not be accessed.
CNN: Is more content getting through what is known as the "Great Firewall of China"?
Most Chinese users do not use proxies anyway, however it is difficult to do a full-fledged survey to find out since it is a very sensitive topic. Although you cannot get definitive numbers, analysts look at Chinese Internet behavior by observing Internet users and it appears that only small percentage uses proxies to circumvent certain blacklisted Web sites. And those users are usually foreigners trying to access their favorite blogs. However, there is so much interesting content that is not blocked and most people find it too much of a hassle to use proxies. Learn more on how China filters the Internet »
Is it true that China has the most Internet users in the world? What are the stats on that and does that include Hong Kong?
The official Chinese Government statistics show that in the middle of 2008, 253 million Internet users exist in China (more than the United States). You can also look at China Internet Network Society, which statistics on all kinds of Internet use in China
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