Chinese Censorship Pushes Further Amid Foreign Concerns

For those of you keeping an eye to censorship in China, it has been an interesting week. On Wednesday Xinhua reported that a new State Internet Information Office will be established to help police the nation’s online activity. According to the report, the organization will:

• supervise online content management and news reporting
• supervise online gaming, online video, online publication industries
• promote construction of news sites and “manage government online publicity work”
• “investigate and punish websites violating laws and regulations”
• oversee telecom service providers
• oversee local-level internet information offices

Obviously a move to regulate internet activity even further than China already has was quickly noticed by Western observers (see Reuters, Bloomberg for starters). One official subsequently spoke out to clarify that:

the new State Internet Information Office will coordinate and streamline oversight and enforcement and will be run by officials from agencies already involved with Internet regulation.

He added that criticisms of this move were baseless, irresponsible, and intended to tarnish China’s image.

The announcement of this State Internet Information Office came just one day after a notable New York Times report said top security official Zhou Yongkang calling for the creation of a new database of Chinese citizens aimed at improving social management.

Sen. Durbin (chicagomaroon.com)

Meanwhile American Senator Dick Durbin continued his efforts to press tech companies on protecting human rights in China, this time addressing a letter to Chinese search engine Baidu on the matter.

Censorship is by no means unique to China, of course. Just this past week new regulations were introduced in India regarding the oversight of internet content. As one might expect the public was not pleased.

But Chinese censorship is of another breed however, as it’s not just dissenter Ai Weiwei finding himself in hot water recently. Journalist Zhang Jialong (Caijing magazine) and freelancer/filmmaker Wen Tao, both of whom reported on Ai, have gone missing and are feared detained. The Huffington Post did a feature on Wen Tao (@wentommy on Twitter) about a month ago, which included the video below. Perhaps more than just a reporter, Wen looks to be a friend, admirer, and supporter of ‘Lao Ai.’