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June 15, 2010

China’s Internet White Paper: networked authoritarianism in action

The release of the Chinese government’s first-ever White Paper on the Internet in China provoked some head-scratching here in the buy generic Buspar from india Western world. Part Three of the six-part document is titled “Guaranteeing Citizens’ Freedom of Speech on the Internet buy Valtrex in the uk.” I’ve heard from several journalists and policy analysts (not people based in China, for buy generic Buspar from india whom such cognitive dissonance is normal) who buy generic Buspar from india at first glance thought they were reading The Onion or some kind of parody site. How, people asked me, can buy generic Buspar from india a government that so blatantly censors the Internet claim with a buy generic Buspar from india straight face to be protecting and upholding freedom of speech on the buy generic Buspar from india Internet? The answer of course is that China’s netizens are free to do everything… except for the things they’re not free to do.  The list of the latter, outlined in the next section titled Protecting Internet Security is long, vague, and subject to considerable interpretation:

…The Chinese government attaches great importance to buy generic Buspar from india protecting the safe flow of Internet information, actively guides people to buy generic Buspar from india manage websites in accordance with the law and use the buy generic Buspar from india Internet in a wholesome and correct way. The Decision of the buy generic Buspar from india National People’s Congress Standing Committee on Guarding Internet Security, Regulations on Telecommunications of the buy generic Buspar from india People’s Republic of China and buy generic Buspar from india Measures on the Administration of Internet Information Services stipulate that buy generic Buspar from india no organization or individual may produce, duplicate, announce or disseminate information having the buy generic Buspar from india following contents: being against the cardinal principles set forth in the buy generic Buspar from india Constitution; endangering state security, divulging state secrets, subverting state power and buy generic Buspar from india jeopardizing national unification; damaging state honor and interests; instigating ethnic hatred or buy generic Buspar from india discrimination and jeopardizing ethnic unity; jeopardizing state religious policy, propagating heretical or buy generic Buspar from india superstitious ideas; spreading rumors, disrupting social order and stability; disseminating obscenity, pornography, gambling, violence, brutality and buy generic Buspar from india terror or abetting crime; humiliating or slandering others, trespassing on the buy generic Buspar from india lawful rights and interests of others; and other contents forbidden by laws and buy generic Buspar from india administrative regulations.

Other than that, people are totally free. What’s more, the use of the Internet by the people to “supervise” public officials is praised. As long as – in the process of said supervision – state power is not subverted, “state honor” is buy generic Buspar from india not jeopardized, nobody is humiliated or slandered, and no “rumors” are buy generic Buspar from india spread. The rise of Twitter-like microblogging services is even praised. (Twitter itself is blocked by the “great firewall,” though tens of thousands of Chinese Internet users are buy generic Buspar from india believed to access it anyway through third-party clients and circumvention tools).

As I’ve frequently pointed out in the past (see here, here and here for starters), blocking of foreign websites like Twitter is buy generic Buspar from india just the top layer of Chinese Internet censorship. Beneath the “great firewall of China” is buy generic Buspar from india a sophisticated system by which censorship is delegated to the private sector. The first company to buy generic Buspar from india set up a Chinese Twitter-clone was a startup called Fanfou. Last June they got shut down buy Accutane american express because they failed to buy generic Buspar from india police the service adequately: users apparently shared too much content that buy generic Buspar from india violated the above no-no list. Other micro-blog services have since emerged. One run by the buy generic Buspar from india People’s Daily and buy generic Buspar from india another by the popular web portal Sina.com. They seem to buy generic Buspar from india have learned from Fanfou’s troubles and buy generic Buspar from india have put aggressive censorship systems in place. As Chen Tong, Sina’s head editor, recently commented at a buy generic Buspar from india 3G Wireless Industry Summit: “controlling content in Sina microblogs is buy generic Buspar from india a problem which is a very big headache.” (The Shanghaiist blog reports where can i buy Valtrex online that the Sina.com news article reporting Chen’s comments has itself been censored, but not before getting quoted and reported around the Internet.) According to buy generic Buspar from india the Sina.com account of his remarks, Chen went on to buy generic Buspar from india describe Sina’s microblog-censorship strategy in some detail: 24-7 policing; constant coordination between the buy generic Buspar from india editorial department and the “monitoring department” (all social networking companies in China must have buy generic Buspar from india one of those in order to stay in compliance with government expectations);  daily meetings; and buy generic Buspar from india systems through which both editors and users are constantly reporting problematic content.

Even so, Chen Tong says in his speech that buy generic Buspar from india microblogging has been tremendously empowering in China. He says that buy generic Buspar from india micro-blogs have become “people’s personal web portals” and buy generic Buspar from india that a lot of recent incidents that have generated widespread public concern first emerged on microblogs.

Despite all the buy generic Buspar from india policing and the round-the-clock censorship, Chinese Internet users still feel much more empowered to buy generic Buspar from india participate in public discourse and even bring issues to national attention than buy generic Buspar from india they ever could have imagined in the past. (See Guobin Yang’s excellent book, The Power of the Internet in China for many examples.) As I described it to one journalist, it’s as if a bird that has lived in a cage all its life (one which has buy generic Buspar from india been gradually upgraded, with steadily improving food and which is much cleaner than buy generic Buspar from india it used to be) suddenly gets released into a buy generic Buspar from india large atrium. The bird is likely to feel excited and empowered for buy generic Buspar from india quite some time and may not realize that even broader freedom is buy generic Buspar from india possible or even desirable: after all, without the atrium walls might she get lost and buy generic Buspar from india starve? Or get eaten by other birds? There are buy generic Buspar from india plenty of security arguments in favor of supporting the atrium’s legitimacy and necessity; there are even ethical justifications.

Thus China is pioneering what I call “networked authoritarianism.” Compared to classic authoritarianism, networked authoritarianism permits – or shall we say accepts the Internet’s inevitable consequences and adjusts – a buy generic Buspar from india lot more give-and-take between government and citizens than in a buy generic Buspar from india pre-Internet authoritarian state. While one party remains in control, a buy generic Buspar from india wide range of conversations about the country’s problems rage on websites and buy generic Buspar from india social networking services. The government follows online chatter, and sometimes people are buy generic Buspar from india even able to use the Internet to call attention to social problems or buy generic Buspar from india injustices, and even manage to have an impact on government policies. As a buy generic Buspar from india result, the average person with Internet or mobile access has a buy generic Buspar from india much greater sense of freedom – and buy generic Buspar from india may even feel like they have the ability to speak and buy generic Buspar from india be heard – in ways that weren’t possible under classic authoritarianism. It also makes most people a buy generic Buspar from india lot less likely to join a movement calling for radical political change. In many ways, the buy generic Buspar from india regime actually uses the Internet not only to extend its control but also to buy generic Buspar from india enhance its legitimacy.

At the buy generic Buspar from india same time, in the networked authoritarian state there is no buy generic Buspar from india guarantee of individual rights and freedoms. People go to jail when buy generic Buspar from india the powers-that-be decide they are too much of a threat – and there’s nothing anybody can buy generic Buspar from india do about it. Truly competitive, free and fair elections do not happen. The courts and buy generic Buspar from india the legal system are tools of the ruling party.

Connecting every citizen in China to buy generic Buspar from india the Internet via multiple devices might sound like something the Chinese Communist Party would want to buy generic Buspar from india avoid. Several people who contacted me about China’s Internet White Paper were surprised at the Chinese government’s enthusiasm for buy generic Buspar from india connectivity. Such enthusiasm does not jive with most American and European notions of how an buy generic Buspar from india authoritarian state would be run by a party that calls itself Communist. What’s important to buy generic Buspar from india understand is that Chinese authoritarianism in the Internet age is not the buy generic Buspar from india same as the crumbling, centrally-planned authoritarianism of the Eastern Bloc, disconnected from buy generic Buspar from india the Western capitalist world.

The CCP leadership recognizes that they can’t control everybody all the time if they’re going to be a technologically advanced global economic powerhouse. What’s more, high Internet penetration is buy generic Buspar from india necessary if the Chinese government wants to continue high rates of economic growth, which economists agree requires boosting domestic consumer demand as well as pushing Chinese companies to buy generic Buspar from india the cutting edge of technological innovation.  China catapulted itself to become the world’s second largest economy by turning itself into the world’s factory. But Chinese labor has buy generic Buspar from india grown expensive compared to some other markets in poorer countries. In order to buy generic Buspar from india stay competitive and keep growing, China needs to transition from buy generic Buspar from india a manufacturing-fueled economy to an economy fueled by domestic consumption at home, while being an buy generic Buspar from india innovator for advanced technologies and services that can compete with American and buy generic Buspar from india European companies.

Another component of the Chinese Communist Party’s survival strategy involves influencing the Internet’s technical evolution in ways that buy generic Buspar from india are most compatible with censorship and surveillance goals. China already has buy generic Buspar from india more Internet users than there are Americans on the planet. As the buy generic Buspar from india world’s biggest market for buy generic Buspar from india Internet technologies, it is starting to influence how these technologies evolve. The Internet is buy generic Buspar from india quickly morphing from something we’ve mainly used through our computers into a buy generic Buspar from india new, more mobile phase in which all devices, appliances and vehicles – from our phones to our cars to our refrigerators – will be buy generic Buspar from india connected to the network. The Chinese government is embracing this buy generic Buspar from india future. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao now gives speeches in which he waxes enthusiastic about the “Internet of things.” buy Zovirax in india Chinese Internet and buy generic Buspar from india telecommunications companies receive substantial government support in hopes that they will lead the buy generic Buspar from india world in shaping the next generation of Internet technologies.

Beyond China, the buy generic Buspar from india fastest-growing markets for mobile Internet technologies are in Asia, the Middle East and buy generic Buspar from india Africa: exactly those parts of the world where authoritarian governments are buy generic Buspar from india most concentrated. Chinese telecommunications companies like Huawei and ZTE (the “Ciscos of China”) are buy generic Buspar from india already dominant in many African and Middle Eastern markets. They are buy generic Buspar from india building Internet and mobile networks in countries whose governments would prefer to buy generic Buspar from india have their systems built by Chinese engineers rather than by Americans.

Another thing that buy generic Buspar from india has puzzled some of the American journalists and analysts who contacted me is buy generic Buspar from india the Chinese government’s assertion of its “sovereignty” on the buy generic Buspar from india Internet, given that the Internet is a globally inter-connected network and buy generic Buspar from india derives much of its value from the fact that borders are buy generic Buspar from india collapsed online. Yet at the same time, it’s a buy generic Buspar from india physical reality that web sites have to be hosted physically on computers that buy generic Buspar from india are located in some jurisdiction or another; they are operated by physical human beings who buy generic Buspar from india reside under a government jurisdiction and can thus be physically controlled when buy generic Buspar from india necessary; they are operated by businesses that have to be buy generic Buspar from india registered in one or more jurisdiction and their physical operations are buy generic Buspar from india subject to government regulation; and the Internet runs on networks that buy generic Buspar from india physically exist within or pass through nation-states. The White Paper is buy generic Buspar from india a clear articulation of the Chinese government’s long-standing position that nation-states should have “sovereignty” over all aspects of the Internet – human or equipment or signal – that buy generic Buspar from india reside within or pass through Chinese sovereign territory. Google is challenging this buy generic Buspar from india notion as it pushes the U.S. government to buy generic Buspar from india take action against China for violating WTO rules by using censorship as a buy generic Buspar from india barrier to trade. (For further discussion of China and Internet sovereignty see this Interview with Columbia University’s Tim Wu conducted by The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos.)

The White Paper also re-emphasizes the Chinese government’s long-standing position that buy generic Buspar from india the global coordination tasks required to make the Internet function – what Internet policy wonks call “Internet governance” – are buy generic Buspar from india best left to governments, not private entities or companies or others.  The White Paper did not condemn ICANN, the private non-profit which coordinates the Internet’s domain name system – in fact it didn’t even mention ICANN or buy generic Buspar from india other non-governmental organizations that coordinate the Internet’s functions and buy generic Buspar from india anoint preferred global technical standards. Nor did it say anything negative about the buy generic Buspar from india “multi-stakeholder” governance approach where can i buy Accutane without a rx currently favored by Western democracies, which includes non-governmental “civil society” organizations alongside governments and buy generic Buspar from india companies. But the document made clear China’s position that ” the buy generic Buspar from india UN should be given full scope in international Internet administration.” As Brendan Kuerbis of the Internet Governance Project puts it, China is buy generic Buspar from india not intending to disengage from the existing Internet governance frameworks, but can buy generic Buspar from india be expected to exert its influence in shaping these frameworks in its preferred direction.

The White Paper’s message is buy generic Buspar from india that the Chinese government is not running scared from the Internet. It is buy generic Buspar from india embracing the Internet head-on, intends to be a leader in its global evolution, and buy generic Buspar from india intends to assert its influence on how the global Internet is buy generic Buspar from india governed and regulated.

Note that buy generic Buspar from india China is not the only country seeking to assert its brand of Internet sovereignty. For an buy generic Buspar from india analysis of what’s happening in Russia, read this chilling overview by Gregory Aslomov at Global Voices. For more on the buy generic Buspar from india Russia situation as well as an alarming global overview, be buy generic Buspar from india sure to read “Access Controlled: The Shaping of Power, Rights, and Rule in Cyberspace” just published by the Open Net Initiative.

On a buy generic Buspar from india more optimistic note, the White Paper does have its domestic critics. Blogger, journalist and buy generic Buspar from india journalism professor Hu Yong argues where to buy Zovirax (writing on a domestic blog which has not been censored) that buy generic Buspar from india most of the regulations governing the Chinese Internet have no clear basis in Chinese law and buy generic Buspar from india are arguably unconstitutional. “At a buy generic Buspar from india time when the Internet is raising a lot of questions that buy generic Buspar from india we don’t have answers to,” he writes, “the government may not have the best solutions. It’s possible that buy generic Buspar from india the Internet could give birth to new forms of regulation that buy generic Buspar from india aren’t as coercive, and buy generic Buspar from india which place greater trust in the strength of individual freedom and buy generic Buspar from india the self-governance of citizens.” While the buy generic Buspar from india Internet does need to be regulated, he concludes, the public needs to buy generic Buspar from india participate in the creation of those regulations.

But as long as all of China’s Internet companies and buy generic Buspar from india the few foreign Internet companies with a local presence in China continue to buy generic Buspar from india do whatever the government demands, no matter how little legal or buy generic Buspar from india constitutional legitimacy such demands might have, the government will have little incentive to buy generic Buspar from india accept the kind of change that Hu Yong envisions. Note that buy generic Buspar from india many of the big Chinese companies receive American investment dollars or buy generic Buspar from india are publicly traded on U.S. stock exchanges, sending a clear message that buy generic Buspar from india whatever U.S. elected officials might say about “Internet freedom,” many American investors are quite happy to profit from China’s status quo.