Silence is golden

27 October 2011 By John Foley Follow @johnsfoley

After a series of PR fumbles and web-inspired protests, the authorities are stepping up Internet controls. Rumour-mongers are even being arrested. Yet many of these curbs depend on companies and investors playing along. While growth is rapid, greed motivates more than fear.

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China’s government vowed to strengthen administration of the Internet, and “sternly punish the dissemination of harmful information” in a communiqué from its recent party leadership meeting published on Oct. 26. China’s Internet is regulated by the State Internet Information Office, a new regulator set up in May.
The SIIO said that two people had been detained for spreading rumours online, and a third punished by his employer. Most attention has been focused on microblogs like Sina’s Weibo, which allow users to post 140-character messages that can be forwarded, responded to and proliferated in seconds.
The U.S. government department responsible for trade matters filed a request for consultations at the World Trade Organisation on China’s internet censorship regime in October. It included questions on how foreign websites are blocked and by whom, and what the role of the SIIO is.

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