Cyber-ocracy
vs.
Cyber-tarianism:
What does the Internet mean for China?
Rebecca MacKinnon
Open Society Fellow
Assistant Professor, Journalism & Media Studies Ctr.,
University of Hong Kong
e-mail: rebecca.mackinnon@gmail.com
blog: http://rconversation.blogs.com

Cultural loss of control: “Back dorm boys”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2HOD-nrOY8

2 layers of Chinese
Internet censorship

2 layers of Chinese
Internet censorship
• “Outside the great firewall”

2 layers of Chinese
Internet censorship
• “Outside the great firewall”
• Filtering of websites outside of China

2 layers of Chinese
Internet censorship
• “Outside the great firewall”
• Filtering of websites outside of China
• “Inside the great firewall”

2 layers of Chinese
Internet censorship
• “Outside the great firewall”
• Filtering of websites outside of China
• “Inside the great firewall”
• Deletion of content on domestic
commercial websites

2 layers of Chinese
Internet censorship
• “Outside the great firewall”
• Filtering of websites outside of China
• “Inside the great firewall”
• Deletion of content on domestic
commercial websites
• Takedown of domestically hosted
websites

2 layers of Chinese
Internet censorship
• “Outside the great firewall”
• Filtering of websites outside of China
• “Inside the great firewall”
• Deletion of content on domestic
commercial websites
• Takedown of domestically hosted
websites
• Shut-down of data centers

All websites are physically hosted on a
computer server in some countryʼs jurisdiction
Neopolitan and CityNAP data center in San Antonio, Texas.
Photo by Robert Scoble, Creative Commons-BY on Flickr at: http://flickr.com/photos/scobleizer/2340202215/

The “Great Firewall” in action

Image search for
“Tiananmen massacre”

Image search for
“Tiananmen massacre”

Image search for
“Tiananmen massacre”

Censorship by Chinese blog-hosting companies
Tianya blog service:
Blog post about
“Tiananmen Mothers”

CENSORED
Your post “Tiananmen mothers organization publishes a
website” has been successfully submitted! Because it
contains sensitive words, please wait for the community
editors to approve it. Please donʼt re-post. Thank you.

Sina.com: Report about explosion in Xinjiang,
published successfully, but...

Post is removed within 24 hours.
Error message at same URL: “Sorry, the blog address
you visited does not exist.”
8 OUT OF 15 BLOG SERVICES TESTED CENSORED
THIS CONTENT

Tests show blogs are censored by companies,
amount and methods very decentralized
Company A 60
B 44
15 blog hosts tested,
C 34
D 31
108 valid tests
E 27
F 26
Blog services
G NOTE: Company names have been replaced with
24
letters due to concerns that companies who censor
H 22
less will be subject to repercussions.
I 20
J 19
For more about Chinese blog
K 17
censorship see February issue
L 13
of First Monday at:
M 9
http://firstmonday.org
N 3
O 1
0 27 54 81 108
Number of blog posts tested

Riot in Wengʼan county, Guizhou province, Julyʼ08
Summer 2008 marked a shift in
official media strategy: let
official news agencies cover
bad breaking stories to get the
official version out quickly, then
censor unofficial versions.

“Pushups” were
used by bloggers
to talk about
Wengʼan incident
Above Sina.com website no longer exists

“Pushups” were
used by bloggers
to talk about
Wengʼan incident
Above Sina.com website no longer exists
3 images from: http://www.caobian.info/?p=3778

Political joke:
“River crab wears three watches”
“Harmonious” “Rivercrab”

Anti-censorship Protest video:
“song of the alpaca sheep”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3tPA_Z_MT0

CCTV news spoof
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYWW1k-dqhg

Feb. 9th CCTV fire:
netizens react

Feb. 9th CCTV fire:
netizens react

Feb. 9th CCTV fire:
netizens react

Mental images of the Chinese Internet

“Iron curtain 2.0”
Photo courtesy “PC fish” on Wikipedia at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Point_Alpha_Ostseite.jpg (GNU Free Documentation License)

“Net nanny”
Photo courtesy “merwing” at http://flickr.com/photos/merwing/2569326878/
(Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license)

Hydro-electric
management
Photos:
LEFT: “noelinthebahamas” on Flickr at http://flickr.com/photos/noelinthebahamas/2417798169/ (Creative Commons BY-NC-ND)
RIGHT: “yunmeng” on Flickr at http://flickr.com/photos/yunmeng/323886547/ (Creative Commons BY-NC-SA)

Cyber civil war 2.0

Where is all of this
heading?

Cyber-tarianism?
President Hu Jintao: “We pay
great attention to suggestions and
advice from our netizens. We
stress the idea of \"putting people
first\" and \"governing for the
people.\" With this in mind, we
need to listen to people's voices
extensively and pool the people's
wisdom when we take actions and
make decisions. The web is an
important channel for us to
understand the concerns of the
public and assemble the wisdom
of the public.”
• “Authoritarian deliberation” (Zheng Yongnian)
http://video.sina.com.cn/news/c/v/2008-06-20/105617742.shtml

Cyber-nationalism

V.P. Xi Jinping in Mexico
Some foreigners who have eaten their fill
have nothing better to do than point their
fingers at our affairs.

V.P. Xi Jinping in Mexico
“It is only by way of this frankness that the
confidence of a responsible big power can be better
displayed; it is only by way of this frankness that the
bright attitude of an increasingly powerful China can
best be shown; and also it is only with this frankness
our fellow countrymen will feel excited.”
Some foreigners who have eaten their fill
have nothing better to do than point their
fingers at our affairs.

V.P. Xi Jinping in Mexico
“It is only by way of this frankness that the
confidence of a responsible big power can be better
displayed; it is only by way of this frankness that the
bright attitude of an increasingly powerful China can
best be shown; and also it is only with this frankness
our fellow countrymen will feel excited.”
“Vice President Xi
Jinping is so cool! He
trashed the unfriendly
foreigners.”
Some foreigners who have eaten their fill
have nothing better to do than point their
fingers at our affairs.

Cyber-ocracy?
2008 Chinese Blogger Conference, Guangzhou.
Photos courtesy “HKdom” http://www.flickr.com/photos/hkdom/3046205362/
and http://www.flickr.com/photos/hkdom/3046219444/in/photostream/

Isaac Mao
If we want free speech,
first we need free thinking.
http://www.isaacmao.com/
Philosophy of “sharism” - using technology and social networks
that enable people to engage and share with one another in ways
that facilitate collective learning, critical thinking, public discourse,
social justice and emergent democracy.
Photo by Joi Ito (Creative Commons BY) at:
http://freesouls.cc/essays/07-isaac-mao-sharism.html

Internet as “special political zone?”
Photos by Josh Chin at 2007 CNbloggercon, Beijing.
On Flickr under “hunxue-er” at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21953266@N00/1849687423/ and
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21953266@N00/1849689005/ (Creative Commons BY-NC-SA)

Zhang Shihe a.k.a. “Laohumiao”
Using the Internet to
raise awareness of
social problems and
organize Grassroots ad-
hoc charity

Ai Weiwei:
online auction of poisoned milk powder to fund-raise for homeless
Argues that Chinese
people must take
greater responsibility
for the state of their
society