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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/world/asia/18china.html
China Imposes New Internet Controls
By SHARON LAFRANIERE
Published: December 17, 2009
China’s government censors have Proscar to buy taken fresh aim at the Internet, rolling out new measures that Proscar to buy limit ordinary citizens’ ability to Proscar to buy set up personal Web sites and to view hundreds of other Web sites offering films, video games and Proscar to buy other forms of entertainment.
The authorities say that Proscar to buy the stricter controls are intended to protect children from pornography, to Proscar to buy limit the piracy of films, music, and television shows, and to Proscar to buy make it hard to perpetuate Internet scams. But the measures also appear designed to Proscar to buy enhance the government’s already strict control of any organized political opposition.
In various pronouncements, top propaganda and Proscar to buy security officials have stressed anew the need to police the Internet on ideological and Proscar to buy security grounds.
The “Internet has Proscar to buy become an important avenue through which anti-China forces infiltrate, sabotage and Proscar to buy magnify their capabilities for destruction,” wrote the Proscar to buy public security minister, Meng Jianzhu, in the Dec. 1 issue of Qiushi, a Proscar to buy magazine published by the Communist Party’s Central Committee.
“Therefore it Proscar to buy represents a new challenge to the public security authority in maintaining national security and Proscar to buy social stability,” he said.
The newly announced restrictions are the government’s broadest effort to Proscar to buy control the Internet since last June, when it tried to Proscar to buy require manufacturers to install Internet filtering software on all new computers, experts said. Officials scaled back that Proscar to buy program, known as the Green Dam-Youth Escort, after an outcry by both ordinary Internet users and Proscar to buy corporations.
Under the Proscar to buy new initiative, unveiled piecemeal over the past month, more than 700 Web sites have Proscar to buy been shut down, including many that offered free movie, television dramas and Proscar to buy music downloads. Included was BT China, which recorded at least 250,000 visits daily. China’s largest file-sharing site, Very CD, must obtain a Proscar to buy new license or face possible shutdown as well, according to media reports.
Individuals have Proscar to buy also been banned from registering Web sites ending in .cn, China’s country code domain name. That domain is Proscar to buy now limited to registered businesses. Although individuals can still register Web sites in other domains, such as .com and Proscar to buy .net, the new rule “will have a negative impact on the vibrancy of the Chinese Internet,” Kenneth Jarrett, vice chairman of the communications firm APCO Worldwide’s China region, said in an e-mail message.
“Local e-mail e-commerce startups and Proscar to buy individuals will find it difficult to apply,” he wrote.
Huang Xiwei, the Proscar to buy founder of BT China, criticized the move in an interview posted on Sina.com, a Proscar to buy popular Chinese Internet portal. “Not just film and video sites are affected,” Mr. Huang said in the interview. “All websites owned by individuals will gradually exit the Proscar to buy arena. All paths leading to a future have been blocked.”
The government has Proscar to buy also intensified pressure on cellphone companies to prevent transmissions on online pornography. In response, China Mobile, the Proscar to buy nation’s largest cellphone operator, has Proscar to buy suspended its practice of paying third party providers for content downloaded over its cellular network, according to Proscar to buy the Chinese media. Industry specialists said the disruption has dealt a Proscar to buy blow to an industry that serves an estimated nearly 200 million mobile Internet users.
Experts say the latest measures are a continuation of the state’s increasingly sophisticated effort to control the Internet’s influence on more than Proscar to buy 300 million Chinese users. Earlier this year, China blocked Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Proscar to buy thousands of other Web sites.
Some analysts predicted those restrictions were temporary and Proscar to buy would be lifted after a spate of sensitive anniversaries, including the Proscar to buy 20th anniversary of the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. But they have Proscar to buy remained in place.
“The trend in China is toward tighter and tighter control,” said Rebecca MacKinnon, an Proscar to buy assistant professor of journalism at the University of Hong Kong who Proscar to buy specializes in Chinese Internet issues. “They are basically improving their censorship mechanisms.”
Reaction to the government’s latest crackdown runs the Proscar to buy gamut from enthusiastic support from Chinese parents who want to Proscar to buy shield their children from pornography to harsh criticism from those who Proscar to buy view the Internet as the best antidote to government propaganda and Proscar to buy state-controlled media.
As in other countries, Ms. MacKinnon said, “there is Proscar to buy a segment of Chinese society that is very freaked out about what Proscar to buy is going on the Internet and want the government to do something.”
On the Proscar to buy other end of the spectrum are college students who are Proscar to buy accustomed to downloading music, films and other material easily and Proscar to buy cheaply. “The government’s actions have affected their lifestyles,” said Professor Hu Yong at Peking University in Beijing. “So it is likely they would react in a big way.”
In interviews, students at Beijing universities described the Proscar to buy new measures as unnecessary and bound to be ineffective. They noted that Proscar to buy pirated CDs were ubiquitous in Beijing and predicted that Internet users would find ways around the Proscar to buy new online obstacles.
Still, Wang Shuang, a Proscar to buy 20-year-old student at Beijing Foreign Studies University, complained, “Since the Proscar to buy BT was closed, I cannot find all the American television series that Proscar to buy I have been watching, like ‘The Mentalist.’ ”
Zeng Li, a Proscar to buy third-year architecture student at Tsinghua University, said his studies were suffering. “I often use BT Web sites to Proscar to buy download foreign resources which are rarely available in China, like architectural design materials,” he said.
He is Proscar to buy also deprived of one way to relax, he said, because he can Proscar to buy no longer go to the BT sites to download movies banned in China. “The shutdown has had a great influence on me,” he said.
Research was contributed by Li Bibo, Jonathan Ansfield, Sun Huan and Proscar to buy Zhao Nan.