we get every piece of information that you can get on the internet,but we never blindly take them as value,by some years living in the US I Know how biased those reports are against China,we read news from both sides and figure out what's going on,never like you brainwashed Philippinos.many Americans think China is what it was 30 years ago,that's good for them,ha
Tell that to the MARINES.
Internet Censorship in China
Internet censorship in China is among the most stringent in the world. The government blocks Web sites that discuss the Dalai Lama, the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters, Falun Gong, the banned spiritual movement, and other Internet sites.
As revolts began to ricochet through the Middle East and North Africa in 2011, and homegrown efforts to organize protests began to circulate on the Internet, the Chinese government tightened its grip on electronic communications, and appeared to be more determined than ever to police cellphone calls, electronic messages, e-mail and access to the Internet in order to smother any hint of antigovernment sentiment.
The government’s computers intercept incoming data and compare it against an ever-changing list of banned keywords or Web sites, screening out even more information. The motive is often obvious: Since late 2010, the censors have prevented Google searches of the English word “freedom.”
In March 2011, Google accused the Chinese government of disrupting its Gmail service in the country and making it appear as if technical problems at Google — not government intervention — were to blame. At the same time, several popular virtual private-network services, or V.P.N.’s, designed to evade the government’s computerized censors, have been crippled. V.P.N.’s are popular with China’s huge expatriate community and Chinese entrepreneurs, researchers and scholars who expect to use the Internet freely.
Few analysts believe that the government will loosen controls any time soon, with events it considers politically sensitive swamping the calendar, including a turnover in the Communist Party’s top leadership in 2012.
The Censorship Machine
Web sites in China are required to employ people who monitor and delete objectionable content; tens of thousands of others are paid to "guide" bulletin board Web exchanges in the government's favor.
China’s censorship machine has been operating ever more efficiently since mid-2008, and restrictions once viewed as temporary — like bans on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter — are now considered permanent. Government-friendly alternatives have sprung and developed a following.
Oversight increased markedly in December 2008 after Charter 08, a pro-democracy movement led by highly regarded intellectuals, released an online petition calling for an end to the Communist Party's monopoly on power. The group's Web site, bulldog.com, was shut down.
Government censors began a campaign, ostensibly against Internet pornography and other forms of deviance. Soon the government effort had shut down more than 1,900 Web sites and 250 blogs -- not only overtly pornographic sites, but also online discussion forums, instant-message groups and even cellphone text messages in which political and other sensitive issues were broached.
In 2009, the government pushed -- and ultimately backed off from -- a rule that would have required the installation of a new software program called "Green Dam-Youth Escort'' on all new Chinese-made computers. The software would effectively monitor a user's every move. After strong resistance at home and abroad, however, China indefinitely delayed enforcement of the rule.
Despite building one of the most technically sophisticated Internet firewalls, China still has a community of Web users that is among the most dynamic in the world. There are more than 70 million bloggers in China, and in January 2009, officials proudly announced that the number of Internet users had approached 300 million, more than in any other country.
In addition to its massive firewall and intrusive software, the government employs thousands of paid commentators who pose as ordinary Web users to counter criticism of the government. Known derisively as "50 Cent Party" members, these shapers of public opinion are often paid 50 Chinese cents a posting.
The Battle With Google
In January 2010, the government's policy put it squarely at odds with one of the world's most high-profile companies, as Google announced that it would cease operations in China unless its search engine results were no longer filtered. The company also cited a series of cyberattacks aimed at breaching the accounts of human rights advocates on its e-mail service, Gmail. China responded that companies doing business in the country must follow the law.
Google closed its Internet search service in March 2010 and began directing users in China to its uncensored search engine in Hong Kong. While the decision was an attempt by Google to skirt censorship requirements without running afoul of Chinese laws, it appeared to anger officials in China.
In June 2010, ending months of tension, Google announced that the Beijing government had renewed its license to operate a Web site in mainland China. The license renewal was a sign that Google, while uncomfortable with operating in China and censoring its search results on Beijing's behalf, is determined to keep a foot in China, which now has more Internet users than the United States.
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/ne...ritories/china/internet_censorship/index.html