Chinese websites are now required to register with the national authorities prior to 10 June or the government plans to close them down at least temporarily.
AFP reported that the Ministry of Information Industry was attempting "to control domestic internet information services..."
If they are closed they will still be allowed 10 days to comply with the registration requirements. Then they will be closed for good the government agency promises.
So far the Chinese government has required internet cafes (which are legion in the developing world where every kid and business person has a computer, laptop and, probably, wireless services) to register with the Ministry before being allowed to offer internet access. Websites of size have already been forced to sign a "code of conduct" that would control the content of websites and chatrooms. Blogs are not noted in the article.
Since I often watch Chinese blogs and bloggers out of interest for the culture of both China and the blogosphere; I would expect more stringent rules to emerge very soon that would attempt to control this modern mode of communication that is, perhaps, uncontrollable.
In China the effort to control the content of the net and access to it is called "The Great Firewall of China." Obviously the idea is to keep free lines of communication off the internet — especially "subversive", anti-government discussions and postings.
According to AFP " ... The Chinese government forecasts the country will have 120 million Internet users by the end of 2005, a figure that would mark a growth of nearly 28 percent from 94 million at the end of 2004."
In the period immediately preceding the breakup of the U.S.S.R. I attended a prophetic lecture by a political scientist. I was the photographer and had time to listen (it had been my undergraduate and grad school majors, after all). I have forgotten (forgive me) his name but the talk was about the growth of personal computers, fax machines, photocopiers (cell phones and the net came later) and their effects on efforts of authoritarian governments to control their citizens with Big Brother techniques of mid control and to limit the passage of information.
Article comments
1 - Tan The Man
It's amazing how China doesn't realize that free speech is kind of a requirement for world power stardom. Unless it takes control over the entire world and then it can do whatever it wants.
2 - alpha
Tan the Man, That could be the plan. I, however should have done more research first. Here is an excerpt from one of many worries about blogs being monitored "in real time" under new rules. This one is from Reporters Without Borders: Authorities declare war on unregistered websites and blogs
"Reporters Without Borders voiced alarm today at the Chinese government's announced intention to close down all China-based websites and blogs that are not officially registered. The plan is all the more worrying as the government has also revealed that it has a new system for monitoring sites in real time and spotting those that fail to comply."
3 - passersby
China need to learn a lot from USA to more effectively brainwash the population. the way they do it now can't last very long.