China's Internet: Let a Thousand Filters Bloom

An article I wrote last week for Yaleglobal Online has now been posted. China's Internet: Let a Thousand Filters Bloom distills some of the things I've been blogging about over the past couple of weeks. Here's the intro:

The internet has played a key role in China's opening up to the world. But, as Rebecca MacKinnon writes, the Chinese government has cracked down on online freedom of expression. Thanks to deals with multinational corporations, US technology has facilitated Beijing's campaign to restrict internet discussions on troublesome issues like democracy, human rights, and Taiwanese independence. "Granular" technologies developed by US information technology giants enable installation of a powerful mesh of filters to control information flow: State-of-the art routers automatically track individual internet users and even filter out sub-pages from larger sites. As a result, says MacKinnon, "the picture of the world as seen by most Chinese internet users is heavily skewed in the regime's favor." Western companies have felt increasing public pressure to take more responsibility for China's uses of their products, even spurring US legislation to support freedom on the internet. Despite the multinationals' claims of innocence – and ignorance – more and more critics, like MacKinnon, are calling for "consequences for companies found to be deliberately aiding censorship and political repression." – YaleGlobal

Stay tuned for more on Cisco.

Comments

[A. R.]

Thank you, Ms. MacKinnon, for your incisive article on the activities of Cisco and other American IT companies in China. I think it is also important to stress that companies such as Cisco are in violation of U.S. law. Of course this brings in the whole issue of dual-use technology, and the IT companies will defend themselves by claiming that they do not determine the end-use of their products. But the facts are as follows: In reaction to the military assault on demonstrators during the Tiananmen protests in 1989, Congress, through the Tiananmen Sanctions of 1990, rejected further sale or transfer of police and surveillance technologies to the Chinese state security apparatus. The Tiananmen Sanctions are still in effect, and prohibit the export of items listed on the U.S. Munitions List and crime controlled items listed in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Specifically, Section 902(a)(4) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for FY 1990-1991, Public Law 101-246, suspends the issuance of licenses under Section 6(n) of the Act for the export of any crime control or detection instruments or equipment to the PRC. However, in recent years, American IT corporations have circumvented congressional restrictions, particularly in the area of IT and Internet technologies. Through exemptions, subsidiaries, or blatant disregard of the law, U.S. companies are rushing to outfit China's authorities with the latest breakthroughs in surveillance, identification and tracking equipment.

Cisco openly markets its security surveillance and tracking products at trade shows in China. Cisco's own marketing materials show that Cisco directly emphasizes its products' abilities to enhance China's police networks and strengthen China's "law and order". Cisco sales pitch materials from 2002 advertise how the mobile technology Cisco provides can be used to enhance the "effectiveness" of police agencies, and how its low-cost, high-speed solutions can connect police stations with various departments to obtain and exchange information.

Old-style censorship in China is being replaced with a massive, ubiquitous architecture of surveillance: the "Golden Shield" project, launched in November 2002 by China's Ministry of Public Security. The ultimate aim of the project is to integrate a gigantic online database with an all-encompassing surveillance network- incorporating speech and face recognition, closed-circuit television, smart cards, credit records, and Internet surveillance technologies. The Golden Shield project provides authorities with an unparalleled ability to monitor and track data and citizens. Corporations such as Cisco have sold China technology that has assisted the Chinese leadership's ability to conduct mass surveillance, identify enemies of the state, and make arrests on a globally unprecedented scale.

In recent years, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of people detained or sentenced for Internet-related offences in China. In just one of many examples, journalist and poet Shi Tao has been charged with “illegally divulging state secrets abroad” for posting an official document relating to the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre on the Internet. Shi faces a possible life sentence for this charge. Meanwhile, public security authorities have closed down thousands of Internet cafés throughout China, blocked access to a vast number of “politically sensitive” websites, and require Internet café users to adhere to a strict system of identification in order to control and monitor their Internet activity.

We must not stand by and allow American companies to illegally and immorally profit from the large-scale suppression perpetrated by Chinese authorities.

A.R.