Great Firewall of China, v2.0

[IglooDame]

Linky: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/22/china_white_list/

China moves closer to a smut-free internet
Now also free of political dissent and annoying Tibetans
By John Oates
Posted in Government, 22nd December 2009 13:42 GMT

China, which last week effectively ended its citizens' right to register a .cn web address, will now only allow access to websites which have been fully registered with the authorities. Individuals will now need a business licence to register a web address.

The Ministry of Industry and Information released more details of measures it says are designed to remove pornographic content from China's version of the internet. The reality is that changes are likely to remove a lot more than just smut.

The five points include a blacklist of individuals who have previously breached the rules to stop them registering new domains.

The Ministry will also tighten existing registration requirements and more importantly websites which are not registered will not resolve for Chinese surfers. Obviously millions of sites which are not based in China do not typically bother to register with MIIT. These sites will now be invisible in China.

MIIT has already banned three companies from offering domain name services until they tighten up procedures.

Assuming the scheme goes ahead it will effectively create a white list of websites deemed acceptable for Chinese citizens to visit. If you're not on the list, no Chinese resident is going to be able to see your website. Danwei.org has more details.

The changes will also hit domestic Chinese websites which pre-date the registration requirements - they will now also need to register. ®

Looks like China has finally figured out how to bell the cat, assuming the cat doesn't know how to do direct-IP connections to websites. What are your thoughts about this, CFC OT?

 

[Lillefix]

Is this site registered with the MIIT?

 

[amadeus]

As long as the Chinese are allowed to have internet connections, there will be ways to get around it. Until they pull a full-on Cuba or North Korea, they can't stop the flow.

 

[Grisu]

hmm, while this will most likely stop the average user, what's keeping someone from useing a DNS-Server outside of China?

 

[Zelig]

As long as the Chinese are allowed to have internet connections, there will be ways to get around it. Until they pull a full-on Cuba or North Korea, they can't stop the flow.

Well, depends what you classify as "internet". If they're only allowing whitelisted sites, they could essentially create a big Chinese intranet where there aren't connections to anything outside of China.

It is much more difficult to get around whitelists than it is to get around blacklists, since you essentially need to either find an exploit with the system or a whitelisted source which is compromised, both of which can be "fixed" relatively quickly by the authorities.

 

[Kraznaya]

Well, depends what you classify as "internet". If they're only allowing whitelisted sites, they could essentially create a big Chinese intranet where there aren't connections to anything outside of China.

It is much more difficult to get around whitelists than it is to get around blacklists, since you essentially need to either find an exploit with the system or a whitelisted source which is compromised, both of which can be "fixed" relatively quickly by the authorities.

They are still pretty far from a whitelist at this point, and I don't see how they could move toward it with how globally connected businesses need to be wit China.

 

[Tee Kay]

A "Harmonious Society" indeed...

 

[RedRalph]

As long as the Chinese are allowed to have internet connections, there will be ways to get around it. Until they pull a full-on Cuba or North Korea, they can't stop the flow.

Doesn't Cuba have a more accessible net than China?

 

[amadeus]

Doesn't Cuba have a more accessible net than China?

Cuba cutting Internet access

Only government employees, academics and researchers are allowed their own Internet accounts, which are provided by the state, but only have limited access to sites outside the island. Ordinary Cubans may open e-mail accounts accessible at many post offices, but do not have access to the Web. Many got around the restrictions by using hotel Internet services.

But a new resolution barring ordinary Cubans from using hotel Internet services quietly went into place in recent weeks, according to an official with Cuba's telecom monopoly, hotel workers and bloggers.

There was no official announcement of the change. Cuba has the lowest rate of Internet access in Latin America.

 

[RedRalph]

Hm, didnt know that.

 

[aronnax]

I don't understand. How are they going to run a Capitalist economy with a censored internet system? New Pages of companies turn up every day! Basic advertising online and internet searches are now going to turn into a mass of paper work and bureaucracy. Oh god... It is as if the Chinese Society got freer and freer until some time in 2005 and ever since then, they are walking backwards? When is collectivisation and a second cultural revolution going to start?

 

[Karalysia]

In order to create a more perfect socialist society capitalist influences must be purged from the system for a harmonious existence based of the principles of scientific advancement in which certain cultural distinctions may appear in comparison to decadent Western society.

 

[civ_king]

I don't understand. How are they going to run a Capitalist economy with a censored internet system? New Pages of companies turn up every day! Basic advertising online and internet searches are now going to turn into a mass of paper work and bureaucracy. Oh god... It is as if the Chinese Society got freer and freer until some time in 2005 and ever since then, they are walking backwards? When is collectivisation and a second cultural revolution going to start?

erm, they were walking backwards but it seems they are going to turn around, jump into a car which takes them to an aeroport at which point they catch a plane flight to the Glorious People's Republic of 1984

 

[lutzj]

I don't get this. Radicals can still easily do whatever they want and ordinary people are going to be alienated when they can't download free Western movies.