From declan@well.comWed Aug 7 11:47:46 1996 Date: Wed, 7 Aug 1996 00:02:06 -0500 From: Declan McCullagh To: fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu Subject: China learns from Singapore how to censor the Net How vile! The two regimes that are leaders in trampling on online liberties are coupling in a kind of unholy affair. I have much background on Singapore's reprehensible actions at: http://www.eff.org/~declan/global/ -Declan --- BEIJING -- When it comes to controlling the Internet, China is trying to learn from a little neighbor. In June, Beijing sent Zeng Jianhui, a top official, to Singapore to pick up tips on expanding the use of the Internet within strict limits. Singapore, a critic of unfettered dissent and Western culture, is trying to become the network's model censor. ``China has a lot to learn from Singapore's experience,'' says a Chinese government official studying Internet restrictions. [...] Worried that the new electronic communications medium is spinning out of its control and could undermine Communist propaganda, the Chinese leadership decided in February to put teeth into Internet regulations and prevent computer-disseminated pornography and antigovernment material. The government is uneasy about cyberspace connections between overseas democracy activists and Chinese dissidents, which blossomed during political protests on the streets of Beijing and other major cities during the spring of 1989. The few Chinese activists who are not imprisoned or under detention are closely watched amid a government crackdown on crime and political unrest. [...] ``This is not having any negative effect on the Internet's development in China,'' says Wang Jun, an official in the telecommunications ministry's data communication bureau. ``It's just a precautionary procedure.'' [...] In May, China launched a nationwide computer network that allows only limited access to the Internet. The venture aims to avoid breaking China's censorship laws by creating its own content and making available only information useful for businesses. The new edited network, which is 60 percent owned by the official New China News Agency and was launched in conjunction with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, does not face a censorship problem because ``there is nothing illegal on the network,'' says Joyce Wong, an executive with the Hong Kong-based China Internet Corp. [...]