Chinese Online Censorship Criticized
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Amnesty International has warned the growing popularity of China's form of online censorship could prove harmful to free speech rights on the Internet.
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(InfoWorld) - The Chinese government took steps during 2006 toÂ increase its controlÂ and monitoring of Internet access by the country's growing Internet population, the U.S. Department of State said in a human-rights report released on Tuesday. "While the government continued to encourage expanded use of the Internet, it also took steps to monitor its use, control content, restrict information, and punished those who violated regulations," the annual report said. Among the steps implemented by the government are stricter requirements for Web-site registration, greater official control over content, and a wider definition of what constitutes illegal activity online, it said. The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are published annually by the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. ChinaÂ has nearly 140 million Internet users, according to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), which tracks Internet usage in the country. The large number of Internet users has not eroded the government's ability to control access to content it deems undesirable, said the State Department, citing reports that the Chinese government employes "tens of thousands of persons" to monitor the Internet. "The authorities reportedly began to employ more sophisticated technology enabling the selective blocking of specific content rather than entire Web sites. Such technology was also used to block e-mails containing sensitive content," the report said. The Chinese government has alsoÂ enlisted the help of domestic and multinational companiesÂ to restrict access to information on the Internet. "Chinese search engines such as Baidu.com and the China-based search engines of Yahoo, MSN, and Google filtered search results, including those relating to the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and human rights," it said.
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The level of state-led censorship of the net is growing around the world, according to a survey.
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SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc.'s recently launched news service in China doesn't display results from Web sites blocked by that country's authorities, raising prickly questions for an online search engine that has famously promised to "do no evil."   Dynamic Internet Technology Inc., a research firm striving to defeat online censorship, conducted tests that found Google omits results from the government-banned sites if search requests are made through computers connecting to the Internet in China.    Steered by an identical search request, computers with a United States connection retrieved results from the sites blocked by China...
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China&#039;s Internet regulators are stepping up controls on blogs and search engines to block material it considers unlawful or immoral, the government said Friday.
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(InfoWorld) - Wikimedia Foundation's English-language site was accessible in China again on Friday, although its simplified Chinese-language site remained blocked. China censors Internet content that it finds objectionable, usually political material that relating to Taiwan or Tibetan independence, the Falun Gong cult, and occasionally pornography. Although the Web sites of most Western news outlets are available, the British Broadcasting Corp.'s news site remains a noteworthy exception. The English Wikipedia site has been available for various periods over the last three years, and has kept a record of those periods on its site. "Wikipedia is such a popular Web site that almost every foreigner who visits China may try to visit Wikipedia pages. I believe someone at [the Ministry of Information Industry] or another government ministry realized what bad PR a Wikipedia block produces," said Jeremy Goldkorn, editor of Danwei.org, a Beijing-based media and Internet site. "Once they had figured out the elegant solution of keeping the Chinese version blocked, and filtering out English Wikipedia pages about Tibet and other 'sensitive' subjects, they were happy to let us access the rest of Wikipedia," Goldkorn said. While English Wikipedia was unblocked, Yahoo Flickr photo service remained accessible from China. However, most photos on the site were blocked and could not be viewed by Chinese users.
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China&#39;s Internet police took between five and eight hours to track down the new location of Reporters Without Borders&#39; Chinese language website and block it, the media freedom group said Wednesday.
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A Chinese city planned to censor online  chatroom exchanges and ban anonymous postings after residents  used the Internet to organize a mass protest against a chemical  plant, Chinese media reported on Friday.
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China said it would issue new rules cracking down on âundesirableâ elements of online games amid fears of growing Internet addiction as the number of players soars.
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Chinese Internet users should keep  national security in mind and not reveal military secrets  through online chat rooms, emails or blogs, Xinhua news agency  said on Sunday citing a warning from a member of parliament.
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China's top Internet search engine, Baidu.com, has been censured by a government-sponsored watchdog for allegedly helping spread sexually explicit photos that appear to feature several Hong Kong stars.
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Google, the internet business that made its mantra &quot;do no evil&quot;, is accused of pandering to attempts by the Chinese government to censor certain websites.
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An online Marxist library says computer attacks from China may force the library to stop providing material in Chinese.
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China's new rules on online video and  audio content banning violent, pornographic and fake material  are aimed at promoting the Internet's "healthy" development,  according to a government statement.
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China has suffered "massive" losses of state and military secrets through the Internet, a senior official said, urging sweeping controls and new security agencies to fight computer threats and uncensored news.
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Several arrests in Hong Kong for posting sexually explicit images of what appear to be some of Asiaâs best-known pop stars has led to a debate over free speech on the Web.
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(Article Central) Google Inc.&#39;s recently launched news service in China excludes results from Web sites blocked by that country&#39;s authorities, and has many insiders questioning its promise to &quot;do no evil.