If anything, China has proven that a country can blend control, coercion, and patronage to stymie the Internet's politically liberalizing elements. Through discreet but tough controls, Beijing pursues a policy of
wai song, nei jin – relaxed on the outside, vigilant internally.
China deploys tens of thousands of "
cyber police" to block Web sites, patrol cyber-cafes, monitor the use of cellular telephones, and t
rack down Internet activists. But the threat to the new global commons comes not from what China does domestically. Rather, it comes from the way in which the know-how that China has gained in fashioning domestic cyber oversight is proving invaluable to it in its efforts to engage in cyber intrusion across its frontiers.
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/chellaney6/English
China's New Internet Strategy: Less Anonymity, More Propaganda
In a speech given to the national legislature Chen Wang, deputy director of the Propaganda Department, head of External Propaganda and the director of the State Council's Information Office, said that they will "make the internet real name system a reality as soon as possible, implement a nationwide cell phone real name system, and gradually apply the real name registration system to online interactive processes," according to a text of the speech obtained by the New York based Human Rights in China group.
Under this regime all anonymous comments would be removed, and forum moderators as well as forum users would have to use their real names. Buying a mobile phone would also require providing a real name.
In addition, the speech outlines a plan to increasingly use the internet as a propaganda tool through a strategy that would guide public opinion towards messages consistent with the Communist Party's ideology, and away from information that may undermine it.
They do, however, wish to continue projecting "soft power" to the rest of the world through "foreign language channels" which Mr Wang says are "becoming an important force in countering the hegemony of Western media".
http://www.tech-faq.com/chinas-new-internet-strategy-less-anonymity-more-propaganda.html
China's plan to use internet for propaganda
JOHN GARNAUT
July 14, 2010
BEIJING: The Chinese Communist Party has detailed its ambitious but secretive strategy for transforming the internet into a force for keeping it in power and projecting ''soft power'' abroad.
An internal speech by China's top internet official, apparently posted by accident on an official internet site before being promptly removed, outlines a vast array of institutions and methods to control opinion at home and
also ''create an international public opinion environment that is objective, beneficial and friendly to us''.
''Those efforts provided powerful public opinion support for unifying thinking, consolidating strength, assisting in our diplomatic battles and safeguarding our national interests,'' said Wang Chen, who is deputy director of the Propaganda Department, head of External (foreign) Propaganda and also director of the State Council's Information Office.
Mr Wang's speech was made to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on April 29 and posted on the Congress's website on May 4, before being removed, sanitised and re-posted on a more mainstream government website the following day. It was picked up by Human Rights in China and included in its report released yesterday, China's Internet: Staking Digital Ground.
''China has this goal of establishing a Chinese intranet, removing China from the global internet, and you can see that in this report,'' said Anne-Marie Brady, an expert on China's propaganda system at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. ''The average Chinese person knows basically how the propaganda system works but there's no need to advertise so blatantly what the government is doing,'' she said, explaining why large sections of the original speech were deleted.
Rather than shut off China to the outside world, the Communist Party has maintained its authoritarian rule in the information age by vastly expanding its propaganda apparatus and modernising its methods and messages.
The country's 400 million internet users are ''guided'' towards government-friendly information and away from ''harmful'' content but can nevertheless access and spread information far more easily than previous generations.
Mr Wang said the internet ''has increased the government's capabilities in social management'' but also brought new subversive threats.
''As long as our country's internet is linked to the global internet, there will be channels and means for all sorts of harmful foreign information to appear on our domestic internet,'' Mr Wang said. He outlined how the party has used internet platforms to ''markedly strengthen'' its capability to promote messages overseas.
''These foreign language channels are becoming an important force in countering the hegemony of Western media and in bolstering our country's soft power,'' he said.
The Communist Party's ''great firewall'' blocks most overseas Chinese-language websites and many foreign-language overseas sites, and local internet companies must vigilantly screen and censor sensitive content.
Official censors, commercial internet operators and
informal public opinion leaders - derisively labelled as China's ''50 cent'' army for the fees they receive per posting - are also deployed to push the government line on sensitive issues.
''Government agencies at all levels "¦ have gradually built mechanisms to guide public opinion through integrating the functions of propaganda departments,'' Mr Wang said.
source:
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/tec...713-109hc.html
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