One intuitively knows that something is not right when the following "disclaimer" repeatedly shows up after any potentially sensitive article:
It roughly translates to
Complaints against the Great Firewall are many, particularly from expats living in China. But what does censorship entail for Chinese living in China? Beneath the facetiousness of the comment above I sense a fear almost tangible. As 2009 draws to a close, a review of the various censorship measures put into effect this year reveals some alarming implications. To illustrate, I have compiled a list consisting of all the small and major events that I as a forum/blog addict noticed (By the way, Leechblock does work to some extent). Even without access to general statistics, the list should be representative of the current status in Chinese web-sphere.
A friend explained away the increasing number of regulations by saying that this year is a special year. I can't help but wonder, is it really a once-in-every-60-years occurrence or is it just the beginning?
"本人只是无意间（并非故意）浏览上述内容，本人并不理解其意义，且本人浏览后将自行洗脑，请组织放心，故本人不因此而负法律责任，请勿跨省或跨国追捕。欲追究具体法律责任者，请联系原作者，谢谢！"
It roughly translates to
"I inadvertently (emphasis on "unintentionally") browsed through the aforementioned content. I in no way understand a word of what has been written and after browsing, voluntarily brainwashed myself, so organizations [and authorities] please rest reassured. I refuse to claim legal responsibility for the content above and decline any inter-province pursuit/arrest. For specific legal accountability, please contact the original author [not me], thank you!"
Complaints against the Great Firewall are many, particularly from expats living in China. But what does censorship entail for Chinese living in China? Beneath the facetiousness of the comment above I sense a fear almost tangible. As 2009 draws to a close, a review of the various censorship measures put into effect this year reveals some alarming implications. To illustrate, I have compiled a list consisting of all the small and major events that I as a forum/blog addict noticed (By the way, Leechblock does work to some extent). Even without access to general statistics, the list should be representative of the current status in Chinese web-sphere.
Government Initiated
January
Thrust to eliminate all vulgarities from internet. Vulgarities include, but are not limited to, porn, pictures showing excessive amount of bare skin, and writings that touch upon homosexuality (Chinese term: BL) and incest. In addition, any website not officially registered with the government are forcibly shut down.
First-hand Account
To avoid being branded a vulgar website, some installed code that indiscriminately replaced any "vulgar" characters with the Chinese word for "mouth" (口). The changes came overnight, so instead of normal content, the readers suddenly saw a junk yard full of squares. Bemused netizens were driven crazy when words like "snow white" (雪白) and "luring" (诱人) become meaningless rectangles, even though the contexts in which they appear are assuredly innocent.
Personally I welcomed this because some websites I go to increasing rely on soft and outright porn to attract traffic.
Link
http://it.people.com.cn/GB/119390/118342/142545/
April
One thread appeared on a small forum that I visit, in which the author mentioned warnings from friends and family about the disease-ridden pork sold in his city (they warned him not to buy or eat pork anymore). Fellow netizens either joined him on condemning the inferior food quality in general or spoke of similar incidents in their cities. Among them, a man said that when his town was hit by avian flu, the local officials suppressed all negative news, punishing anyone that contributed to the leak of unfavorable information because it could potentially impact the local poultry trade. "Such rumor-mongering is greatly frowned upon [by the government]," he concluded.
Five hours later I discovered the thread was deleted. Because the author and my family live in the same city, I took personal interest in the matter. However, he did not respond to the messages that I sent to him.
(Note: I think the thread was deleted because the moderator wanted to avoid possible legal troubles)
May
Hangzhou planned to become the first city in China to require real-name registration for web users.
First-hand Account
Netizens, whether they are Hangzhou-based or not, collectively worried about the implication of this move. Few people are cheered by the prospect of more reliable information (made possible by supposedly holding individuals legally responsible for what they publish online). Rather, most fear that the content they put online will one day come back to haunt them and result in legal repercussions/persecutions. Probably due to the heated and widespread protest, Hangzhou quickly mollified its stance by stating that the real-name registration system only applies to online businesses and organizations.
Link
http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/05/hangzhou%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Creal-name-web-registration-system%E2%80%9D-is-%E2%80%9Con-the-shelf%E2%80%9D/
June
Forum T (another one that I go to) received the following warning from the government:
Dissemination and discussion of sensitive or inharmonious topics are prohibited. Especially in relation to politics. Any articles about national leaders, history of CCP and history of PRC will encounter swift deletion (special mention goes to Culture Revolution, Great Leap Forward, and XX Square). Discussion of current events and hot topics (for example writer Han Han) must also cease. Violation will result in permanent banning of account.
(Note: 90% of the people who visit this site are males. Therefore, the direct consequence of this warning is that they promptly switched from politics to discussion of girls and adult videos....)
Also in June
Remember Air France Flight 447 that mysteriously plunged into the ocean? There were six Chinese citizens on board, none of whom survived. Later a thread on Tianya exposed the six individuals (all employees of a steel company) for corruption, taking the expensive and ultimately fatal trip to Brazil at public expense.
The thread first appeared on Tianya and soon went viral. The deletion and ID banning came equally quickly.
Link
http://xusp007.blog.eastday.com/xusp007/art/650400.html?p=1
July
The list of "inappropriate" words grew ever longer in Baidu forums. In the lists are words like "64", "Arabic" (阿拉伯), and "tofu crumbs" (豆腐渣， in reference to the shoddy construction jobs that populate the Chinese infrastructure scene).
Baidu users whose tolerance level for censorship has long been exceeded joined together to create a "hot" words website, dedicated specifically to checking for these special phrases. The site cannot keep up with the growth rate of the banned word list, however. It is never up-to-date.
Link to the Checker:
http://welkin.byethost3.com/test.html
August
Online blog providers began to request real name registration for new users. Some even require that the newcomers provide their personal identification number--equivalent of SSN in US. In the name of promoting mental health for the youths, online RPG games also joined the movement of asking for names and personal IDs. To ensure the accuracy, they even teamed up with the police network to review provided information.
September
At the small forum mentioned previously, a netizen warned us about the danger of being indiscreet on internet. Specifically, one neighbor was furious about the supposed unjust treatment he received from his company and discussed, in a high profile thread, of organizing a protest. Within two days, the man was handcuffed and taken to the police station.
A friend explained away the increasing number of regulations by saying that this year is a special year. I can't help but wonder, is it really a once-in-every-60-years occurrence or is it just the beginning?
Another Type of Censorship?
Those interested in China should know about Baidu, the indigenous and unrivaled search engine in China (unrivaled in terms of number of users). Being a Chinese business, it will obviously comply with the government censorship. But, there is more.
Among some Chinese Baidu is also known as gangster corporation, a nickname that speaks volumes about its business practices (besides blatantly plagiarizing Google). For example, the Search Engine Results Page Rank on Baidu can be bought. It has long been public knowledge that BD has a special hotline catering to businesses that wish to promote themselves. In other words, one can pay money to Baidu for an improved SERP rank. This is not all. Baidu also offers to censor any negative news for a fee. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons that Baidu came under fire was because when San Lu Milk scandal first broke out, netizens could not find any relevant reports via Baidu searching (One cent if you correctly answer the question "why?" I will say though that the rumors as to this reason have never been officially confirmed).
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