1. China's Golden Shield Project or The Great Firewall of China

2. In the 20th century, control of information was easier
Not many sources
Few gatekeepers
Nations isolated

3. Today, control of information is more difficult
Especially if you want to stay competitive in the global community.

4. One Approach to Control: Shut it Off
January, 2011
President Mubarak of Egypt
Reacting to use of social media by protestors
Shuts down Internet in Egypt
How did he do it?

5. How the Internet Works

6. How Mubarak Shut Down the Internet

7. China: a smoother article
China is an interesting example of a nation with a strategic vision for controlling the newly emerging virtual world.

8. In a speech in 2012, China's outgoing President Hu noted:
"At present, our country has an important strategic window for development, but is also in a period of magnified social conflicts...“ He urged the importance of
"...further strengthening and improving management of the Internet, improving the standard of management of virtual society, and establishing mechanisms to guide online public opinion."

9. More recently, President Xi Jinping has called for “cyber sovereignty”
“We should respect the right of individual countries to independently choose their own path of cyber development and model of cyber regulation and participate in international cyberspace governance on an equal footing,”

10. The largest Internet user base in the world
721 million users in 2016
52% of the population
Internet critical to continued economic, technological development
How to shape and control an essentially free environment?

11. Who controls the Internet in China?
At least 14 government agencies
Political turf war
State Internet Information Office created May, 2011
Coordination, oversight, or control?
Power, money at stake

12. Most prominent method of control
The Golden Shield Project
Run by the Ministry of Public Security
Most sophisticated filtering and monitoring system on the Internet

13. Officers JingJing and Chacha
Unlike the crude Internet take down in Egypt, China has explored a variety of ways to shape and control information on the Web.

14. How China controls the Internet
Creating alternatives to open applications like Google, Facebook and Twitter
Pressure on foreign companies
Licensing of news
Embedded software
Banning anonymous postings
Filtering
Monitoring
Controlling the discussion
Informing
"Self discipline" (Self- censorship)

15. Filtering $700 million in Golden Shield infrastructure
Sites blocked by keyword, DNS server
International traffic through a few fiber-optic cables in 3 areas
Easier to control, monitor
Supposedly done to block pornography
Filtering common in the U.S.

16. Monitoring An estimated 30,000 police monitors
500 cities with an Internet police bureau

17. Controlling the discussion
The 50 cent army (or party)
Begun at Nanjing University
People paid to post, comment, and spin
Mainly government, also private sector
Estimates: 300,000 posters
Potential impact on social media unknown

18. Informing
In 2004, Center of Illegal and Harmful Information shut down 1,287 sites. Informers paid between $60 and $240.

19. Self-discipline = Harmony = Self-censorship
"Harmonious" a code word for the suppression of unpleasant speech
River crab and harmony similar Chinese characters
River crab is a code word for "censor"
River crab shutting down Twitter on the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square

20. Self-discipline = Harmony = Self-censorship
Companies are responsible for what users do (US, Europe considerd)
Companies regulate according to state dictates or suffer fines and shutdowns
Baidu, China's Google, aggressive censor
Google abandoned it's .cn presence over this (or inability to compete with Baidu)
"Networked Authoritarianism" (Rebecca MacKinnon)
Individuals also pressured to conform
Risqué cosplayer Li Ling “forced to drink tea”

21. Creating alternatives
More easily controlled
Pressure foreign companies to get in line

22. Pressuring foreign companies
Apple products subject to Chinese audits
NYT denied press credentials
Media “ Content control” broadly interpreted
US Department of Defense, NSA also want control over tech

23. Embedded Software Green Dam Child Escort Software most famous
Project of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
Supposedly anti- pornography filter for kids
85% political, 15% sexual words filtered

24. Green Dam Girl Originally required on all new computers
Chinese Internet users hostile
Ridiculed by "Green Dam Girl" cartoons
Reaction in Chinese press mixed (government turf war)
Software ineffective and buggy
Ministry backed down
Software optional, funding cut, project died

25. Buggy software Pig farmers found their pictures banned
Color was a little too close to flesh

26. So, where is all this going?
Can China allow just enough freedom online to innovate and satisfy an upwardly mobile population and...

27. ...still maintain control over the anarchy of virtual space?

28. Nobody knows. There's never been anything remotely like this.
Parody of Green Dam Child Escort software in chichi Hong Kong fashion magazine Look.
River crabs for harmony!