The recent China Daily census of Internet users in China has astounded some and worried many more. The number, quoted at 457 million users, has undoubtedly taken the West by surprise. To put that into perspective, thats roughly the sum of the populations of the United States and Russia. I mean, we all know China has a ridiculous population but who would have thought that such a large portion of a developing nation enjoyed regularly access to the Internet. Perhaps more surprisingly is the fact that the majority of these users access the Internet through mobile phone. This means we're not dealing with groups of impoverished farmers waiting long lines outside of Internet access points just to read of their far-away relatives. What we are dealing with is a major sector of the Chinese population that is wasting no time in modernizing and innovating.
So what changes can be expected with the arrival of a digital China? Will China now be the leading developer of digital material? Will China use this platform to export ideology? Could China become the new central hub of E-infrastructure in the modern world? I personally don't feel that very much will change, at least not due to China. (In my opinion it is the developing giants of India, Indonesia, and even Brazil that will most likely be game-changers.) I say this because China and the Internet are at very big ideological odds. The internet, as it has been developed by the West over the last two decades, has become almost a proving ground for Free Speech and Human Rights. With the exception of the recent Wikileaks ordeal, the Internet's champions have rigorously promoted and marketed a freedom of informational exchange.
China on the other hand, has spent the decade restricting Internet access and hunting down 1st Amendment advocates. I do think it fair to say that the recent census proves the impossibility of total Chinese web-censorship but thats not something China necessarily has to achieve. What China can achieve is total censorship of e-innovation in China. Now that is a much more manageable figure. You can't have an information industry without information entrepreneurs. Until the Chinese leadership accepts the positives of free information exchange there is little chance that it will recognize or embrace the wrapped gift sitting at it's doorstep: the opportunity to be the world's leading digital innovator. The internet is often referred to as a nation-less digital democracy, with millions of users giving their two cents. China is going to have to think long and hard about its relationship with democracy before it can take its seat as the leader of the world's largest one, the Internet.
To make matters worse, time is running out for the Chinese to decide which road to travel. If China opens the Internet they may very well, in time, become the world's single largest producer of E-material and even hardware, while running the risk of permanently altering the political landscape. If China keeps their internet closed they retain control of the distribution of information, but for how long can you really subdue 457 million people's desire to learn and an entire industry on the verge of blooming before something goes wrong? Think long and think hard China, but whatever you do, think.
When the authorities of China announced astonishing surge in number of online users Wang Chen, a representative of the Information Management of the State Council,said that not only the the number of users on the Internet grew by 20,3% to reach 450 million users,while the total number of residents in China exceeds 1.3 billion people,but also summed up the success of censorship activities- particularly government's campaign against online pornography, violence and other socially unacceptable materials. According to Mr. Wang as the results of work about 60 000 sites were closed, in addition about 350 million records with pornographic content were taken off the Internet. Authorities ignited approximately 2200 criminal cases against distributors of illegal content. Over 1300 people have already faced the judge and have been punished by the court, 58 people received prison sentences of more than 5 years.
ReplyDeleteWang Chen made a statement that "Government censors have made online environment much cleaner, but China is not going to stop here. Our campaign does not stop, it will be a long fight, "
We may say that the more local Internet users surf the Internet the more they experience online democracy, the more stringent would become policy of Chinese authorities to limit citizens' access to independent information across the country. Bazaar,but in China the largest network of blogs are banned,many TV channels and websites of some leading European newspapers are prohibited and even resources on the scale of YouTube or Facebook are tempered with.
I like what you said about how China could achieve censorship of e-innovation, not complete censorship. China must focus on little aspects of the internet that they deem as a high priority to keep censored first, and then take steps toward making the whole picture more censored.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that China's will play a significant role regarding whether or not China will truly be a game changer and dominant presence on the Internet. If the Chinese government were to soften up censorship and regulatory measures, China, in my opinion, would surely change the face of our Internet experience, as we have yet to feel the effects of this extensive amount of people due to current restrictions.
ReplyDeleteThe incidence of the internet in China is very powerful that it will get to a point where the actual censored and controlled regime will not have any other exit that opens a space to their actual regulations with a legal framework for online free speech implementation.
ReplyDeleteCensorship has been a delicate issue in China for the past few years and with so many Chinese people online, the issue gets more complicated. Yet I don’t think this will affect the country’s potential to become one of the leaders regarding Internet innovation. They are already making up for lost time with websites similar to Youtube (Youku) and Amazon (Dangdang). It seems like it will not be long before we see western companies replicating the newest Chinese sites.
ReplyDeleteIn reading this, if China continues to expand on the internet, they are not going to be able to censor everything. The government has to decide as you said on what route they want to go. Capitalize on online success or cease it now so that they continue censoring with minimum problems. China has shown that when they decide to do something they will do their best as seen in products that are made in China, that are used widely around the world. China has to make up their mind and fast, cause time is running out.
ReplyDeleteInteresting...
ReplyDelete