Trouble in Cyberspace – China Net News

It’s been a tough year for internet users in China, and things don’t look like they’re getting any better. Although the dreaded Green Dam proposal failed to get off the ground earlier this year, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have been blocked since the first half of 2009, along with countless other sites such as the English-language Chinese news portal Danwei. Recent months have seen a fresh wave of sites closed or blocked, ostensibly as part of a campaign against “vulgarity.”

Last week the Wall Street Journal reported yet another “anti-porn” campaign, this time targeting mobile content: “The Ministry of Public Security recently launched a crackdown on mobile porn, targeting sites that use wireless application protocol, or WAP – a method of producing Web sites for mobile handsets. The campaign is focusing on larger cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong — where many Chinese WAP sites are registered – and will run through the end of the year, according to public security officials.”

The increased focus on mobile porn is the result of the introduction of 3G mobile services in China this year.

The move is part of a broader campaign the WSJ report claims has been unfolding since August: “The current anti-porn campaign, initiated in August, has also seen the closure of 6,972 pornographic Web sites. In late October, the General Administration of Press and Publication shut down 1,414 online literature Web sites that were said to be spreading pornography.”

Security forces are now encouraging the public to get in on the act. At the end of last week, authorities announced rewards “ranging from 1,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan each” for “tip-offs on Internet and mobile WAP sites containing pornographic contents.” Unfortunately the Xinhua report didn’t give contact details for the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center – we’ll leave it to our readers to track them down if you’re looking to cash in.

Literature isn’t the only form of writing that’s been caught up in the present campaign. The Guardian recently reported the closure by authorities of its collaboration with local community translation website Yeeyan. The site was publishing selected Guardian stories in Mandarin.

According to the Guardian, “Yeeyan is the largest open translation community in China. As of June this year, it had more than 90,000 registered users, including about 5,000 community translators who have published nearly 30,000 translations on the site.” Authorities probably mistook all that incisive journalism for erotic literature.

At the beginning of this week the Shanghaiist reported that officials at China's Seventh International Internet Culture Exposition had called for an “online ratings system (much like there is for movies) and a real-name system” for web users. As the report notes, there has long been talk of forcing Chinese net users to register their identities, though authorities still haven’t come up with a system to make this feasible – yet.

If you think things are bad in Beijing, pity those residing in Xinjiang. The far-west province has been isolated in the virtual sense since certain unmentionable events in the middle of the year. After a brief period of being blocked the Far West China blog by American Xinjiang resident Josh now appears to be assessable again – though for obvious reasons Josh’s posting has been severely curtailed. He did manage a post on Monday about the current situation in Xinjiang vis-à-vis the internet:

“The most common misunderstanding I run into with anybody outside the province is the idea that we have no internet whatsoever. Although true in some ways (all email, Skype, and IM have vanished), the statement is bit misleading. While any internet content, especially for English-speakers, is extremely limited, there is plenty still available to be found in Chinese. It seems to me that the government has basically cut the cord to content that is hosted outside the province, but anything within the province is accessible.”

The post also recounts a conversation with a security bureau officer, who claimed that individual IP’s can be opened in Xinjiang with appropriate permission. All an individual needs to do is obtain permission – in person – from city, provincial and national authorities. Hard to see why people are complaining really.

As for when Xinjiang might be reconnected with the rest of the world, Josh had this to say: “According to some memos sent between the capital and the head office of our city’s main telecom provider, service is expected to open up during the May holiday of 2010.”

Then they’ll be back to enjoying the same restrictions as the rest of us.