The Great Firewall of China
Friday, November 9, 2007
By Scott Sowby
The multi-billion dollar Golden Shield is the latest addition to the “Great Firewall of China”. Funded by the Government and instituted as part of its vast Communications Monitoring Program, its purpose is to monitor, manipulate, and block sensitive online content. The government is betting big that the Golden Shield will help contain and manage the exponential growth and increasing savvy of Internet users in China.
I experienced the Golden Shield firsthand during a recent visit to Beijing. The smoke filled Internet Café I chose contained more than a hundred computers, almost all of which were occupied. Before taking my spot, I was required to show two forms of I.D, both of which were photocopied. I was asked to sign a contract stating that I would abide by a complex set of rules. After that, I was ready to see the much vaunted Golden Shield in action.
I started by visiting sites I am familiar with. CNN.com U.S edition was blocked. My Google G-mail account, blocked. A Yahoo search for “Democracy”, blocked. At that point my monitor went blank and a note on the screen said I had been given a 30 second timeout for trying to access sensitive material. The next violation would be one minute, followed by dismissal from the Café. I played the tourist card to the proctor and kept searching. U.S based travel sites, blocked. Gambling sites, blocked. Searches for Tiananmen Square demonstrations, blocked. Sensing my frustration, a Chinese twenty-something sitting next to me offered me a deal. For the equivalent of a dollar he would show me how to hack the system. Within two minutes he had set me up on a secure SSH connection using a circumvention tool, in this case called UltraSurf. Using a proxy server I was able to access anything I wanted without running the risk of a timeout…or worse.
Thousands of Chinese languish in prison because of harmless internet activities. Captured online dissidents, especially those found to be encouraging the values of Democracy are punished swiftly and harshly. By some measures, China has been able to maintain a semblance of online control through the use of brute force. This is aided by the fact that less than one-third of all Chinese have logged on to the Internet, although this number is growing at an exponential clip.
Besides the insurmountable technical challenges of governing and manipulating the online activities of a fifth of humanity, the government is realizing that online censorship has not only fanned the flames of resentment but has also severely hampered its e-commerce capabilities. In China's case, taking billions and possibly trillions of dollars out of an economy that can ill afford to lose it. Chinese leaders recognize that raising incomes is a more effective way of securing power than spying on citizens and jailing dissenters. They have also realized it’s not possible to reconcile these two competing strategies. As a result, they have lost control of “the message”. And as history has taught us time and again, when “the message” can no longer be controlled, those in power are marginalized.
The flood of information made available via the web has given the Chinese common man confidence and power. Every day in China, there are millions of people putting the pieces together and discovering the virtues of freedom via the Internet. Chinese citizens are learning what personal fulfillment signifies and they are quite literally taking down the barriers that impede their search for such. The burgeoning middle class is acutely aware of the true extent of their numbers and the potency those numbers hold. The people are realizing that they can raise their standard of living. They are realizing their unique talents and abilities have value and money making potential. The futility of China’s state-owned enterprises is being exposed. The volatile discontent of the political minorities has finally found a lasting platform. Adding fuel to revolutions fire, Generation Y in China has a markedly lower instinct for obedience and allegiance, a direct reflection of alternatives made visible via the web. This has become a lethal combination for the ruling party.
In downtown Beijing I marveled at an enormous mural of Lebron James that was plastered to the side of an even bigger skyscraper. The words above Lebron’s head as he dunked over a lesser opponent………WE ARE ALL WITNESSES. In that moment it made me appreciate the rarity of recognizing greatness or change when we are in the midst of it. It’s difficult to do, and more often than not, it requires somebody pointing it out to us.
It’s become increasingly popular for “experts” to predict the imminent fall of the Chinese communist regime. It’s been happening since 1950 and each prediction echoes the same basic sentiments….Too many people, too many opinions, too many tools, too much discontent. As the years pass, experts remain baffled as to how and why Communist China seems to stay intact. Perhaps they are looking for the quick and decisive falls that plagued previous dynasties. Or maybe they are waiting for another botched attempt to retake Taiwan. Either way, they have waited too long. The revolution is well underway.....and WE ARE ALL WITNESSES.
By Scott Sowby
The multi-billion dollar Golden Shield is the latest addition to the “Great Firewall of China”. Funded by the Government and instituted as part of its vast Communications Monitoring Program, its purpose is to monitor, manipulate, and block sensitive online content. The government is betting big that the Golden Shield will help contain and manage the exponential growth and increasing savvy of Internet users in China.
I experienced the Golden Shield firsthand during a recent visit to Beijing. The smoke filled Internet Café I chose contained more than a hundred computers, almost all of which were occupied. Before taking my spot, I was required to show two forms of I.D, both of which were photocopied. I was asked to sign a contract stating that I would abide by a complex set of rules. After that, I was ready to see the much vaunted Golden Shield in action.
I started by visiting sites I am familiar with. CNN.com U.S edition was blocked. My Google G-mail account, blocked. A Yahoo search for “Democracy”, blocked. At that point my monitor went blank and a note on the screen said I had been given a 30 second timeout for trying to access sensitive material. The next violation would be one minute, followed by dismissal from the Café. I played the tourist card to the proctor and kept searching. U.S based travel sites, blocked. Gambling sites, blocked. Searches for Tiananmen Square demonstrations, blocked. Sensing my frustration, a Chinese twenty-something sitting next to me offered me a deal. For the equivalent of a dollar he would show me how to hack the system. Within two minutes he had set me up on a secure SSH connection using a circumvention tool, in this case called UltraSurf. Using a proxy server I was able to access anything I wanted without running the risk of a timeout…or worse.
Thousands of Chinese languish in prison because of harmless internet activities. Captured online dissidents, especially those found to be encouraging the values of Democracy are punished swiftly and harshly. By some measures, China has been able to maintain a semblance of online control through the use of brute force. This is aided by the fact that less than one-third of all Chinese have logged on to the Internet, although this number is growing at an exponential clip.
Besides the insurmountable technical challenges of governing and manipulating the online activities of a fifth of humanity, the government is realizing that online censorship has not only fanned the flames of resentment but has also severely hampered its e-commerce capabilities. In China's case, taking billions and possibly trillions of dollars out of an economy that can ill afford to lose it. Chinese leaders recognize that raising incomes is a more effective way of securing power than spying on citizens and jailing dissenters. They have also realized it’s not possible to reconcile these two competing strategies. As a result, they have lost control of “the message”. And as history has taught us time and again, when “the message” can no longer be controlled, those in power are marginalized.
The flood of information made available via the web has given the Chinese common man confidence and power. Every day in China, there are millions of people putting the pieces together and discovering the virtues of freedom via the Internet. Chinese citizens are learning what personal fulfillment signifies and they are quite literally taking down the barriers that impede their search for such. The burgeoning middle class is acutely aware of the true extent of their numbers and the potency those numbers hold. The people are realizing that they can raise their standard of living. They are realizing their unique talents and abilities have value and money making potential. The futility of China’s state-owned enterprises is being exposed. The volatile discontent of the political minorities has finally found a lasting platform. Adding fuel to revolutions fire, Generation Y in China has a markedly lower instinct for obedience and allegiance, a direct reflection of alternatives made visible via the web. This has become a lethal combination for the ruling party.
In downtown Beijing I marveled at an enormous mural of Lebron James that was plastered to the side of an even bigger skyscraper. The words above Lebron’s head as he dunked over a lesser opponent………WE ARE ALL WITNESSES. In that moment it made me appreciate the rarity of recognizing greatness or change when we are in the midst of it. It’s difficult to do, and more often than not, it requires somebody pointing it out to us.
It’s become increasingly popular for “experts” to predict the imminent fall of the Chinese communist regime. It’s been happening since 1950 and each prediction echoes the same basic sentiments….Too many people, too many opinions, too many tools, too much discontent. As the years pass, experts remain baffled as to how and why Communist China seems to stay intact. Perhaps they are looking for the quick and decisive falls that plagued previous dynasties. Or maybe they are waiting for another botched attempt to retake Taiwan. Either way, they have waited too long. The revolution is well underway.....and WE ARE ALL WITNESSES.
posted by Sowby23 at 4:16 PM
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