B.T.W

By Eileen Yu

By the way, ZDNet Asia has more to say

Breaking down China's Great Firewall

Posted in By The Way by Eileen Yu on 2007/06/01 13:44:51

weekly roundup So, does China filter the Net or not? The rumblings have been going on for a long time now. And while Chinese officials have denied such allegations, their western counterparts have made it clear they believe otherwise.

Last November, a Chinese official said the country does not deploy software that blocks Internet sites and instead attributed the issue to a problem with access.

This week, however, one of my colleagues in the U.S. visited Beijing and "tested" the censors in China to some interesting results.

So, does China censor or does it not? But, the question is, does it really matter?

It's the prerogative of every government to decide whether it wants to censor material and information, online or offline, that its people view and have access to. If governments are the appointed heads of a country, then it's up to the citizens of that country to decide--and vocalize--how they want their government to run their homeland.

Sometimes, foreign observers forget that this is a fundamental right of any citizen and have proceeded to decry the Chinese people's restricted access to information.

What's that saying again... When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

There are businesses that have shown an effort to observe this maxim. A Google executive, for instance, recently said to some journalists in Singapore that it runs its operations in China as it does in any international land--within the boundaries of the country's government policies and regulations.

The search giant, along with other companies such as Yahoo and Microsoft, have come under fire for their "obedience" and willingness to abide by China's requests.

Home to the world's largest population, China still has a sizeable untapped--and lucrative--Internet market and it's clear why tech companies would grab any opportunity to set up shop in the country. But, just as any company that operates in Europe or the United States, businesses that operate in China will have to observe its laws and regulations.

Does that mean I condone China's policy on Net censorship? Not necessarily. But it means I understand why companies like Google and Yahoo, have felt the need to comply with China's "unique" requirements. Do you agree? Post your comments on Talkback or ping me.

In other news this week, Dell Computer holds off its Linux initiative in Asia-Pacific, for now, while Thailand's ICT minister second guesses himself. Also, find out what Asia's data centers need and could North Korea join the ranks of India and China?

Disclaimer:
Views and opinions expressed in this blog are the author's, and do not necessarily represent those of ZDNet Asia.

Talkback 4 comments

I believe that if a government reflects the will of the people, then business should respect its laws. However, I don't believe that China falls into this category.

Dissent is disallowed, media is censored and governmentally controlled, and I don't remember a democratic election of government officials in the history of the PRC.

So, in my opinion, business or public sentiment against Chinese government censorship of the Internet is not out of line.
Posted by Tom Olzak on Saturday, June 02 2007 10:04 PM

Yes, all nations have inherent rights, and responsibilities. Of this there can be no doubt.

Yet, these rights and responsibility must not attempt to escape fundamental fact and issues of probity.

One may attempt to suppress, for example, the actual events of a protest or act of social defiance, but what does one do when the fact of that protest becomes known.

The Chinese government at present removes all mention of any deaths, outrage, demands for democracy, that were expressed during the Tiananmen Square incident. Does the suppression of this historical fact, lie within the purview of good governance? Is it, at the most basic level, HONEST?

After all, it did happen.

Would one argue that the Law of Gravity is just a mere theory? Of course not because the Law of gravity can be empirically and independently confirmed.
But when it comes to human events and political interaction those who write the laws must remember that changing the rules of a game in order to insure success or survival, makes one unworthy of trust and changes the game!

I suppose some situational ethic might condone obliterating empirical fact, but, where does one draw the line?

Filtering child pornography and net exploit is NOT the same as lying, period.

The Chinese government does filter the web content its citizens view. Is this wrong? Yes, where it violates the objectivity of cogent fact.
Posted by Lord Tutinean on Tuesday, June 05 2007 08:51 AM

A government must protect its citizens, but a government should never try to protect itself from history. China should set the example.
Posted by Jean-Louis De Rede on Tuesday, June 12 2007 06:35 PM

What does blocking flikr and wikipedia have to do with governing a country?

Mr. Zemin, unblock this firewall!
Posted by B Shniper on Tuesday, June 19 2007 11:29 PM

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About the blogger

Eileen Yu

Eileen Yu began covering the IT industry when Asynchronous Transfer Mode was still hip and e-commerce was the new buzzword. These days, she gets stirred up over issues concerning Internet regulation, intellectual property rights and software patents, online privacy and data protection. Eileen is senior editor at ZDNet Asia, where she oversees the business tech news site.