The document provides an overview of internet censorship in China through the "Great Firewall". It discusses how the Great Firewall aims to restrict access to foreign websites and monitor internet usage according to the state. While censorship can benefit society in some ways, China's Great Firewall poses threats such as reducing free expression and privacy. The document also examines reasons China cites for the firewall, such as protecting its economy and maintaining political order, but notes it could be used to stifle opposition. Risks of the Great Firewall include giving authorities power to silently block content and promote only state-sanctioned views.

1. Policy Primer
Internet Censorship: The
Great Firewall of China
Presented by Michael Natoli

2. Another Great Wall of China?
• ‘The Great Firewall’ was coined by Wired
magazine in 1997 (Runkel, 2010)
• Unlike the Great Wall of China, the Great
Firewall of China is not a physical structure!
Figure 1. Great Wall of China Facts (Lehnardt, 2016)

3. What is the ‘Great Firewall’?
• An attempt to help ‘purify’ the internet in
China through censorship of foreign websites
• Part of China’s “Golden Shield Project” which
aims to block or monitor internet content and
usage as defined by the State (James, 2009)
Figure 2. Gold Shield (pngimg, n.d.)

4. Threat of Unrestricted Internet in China
• “The Internet allows unprecedented
opportunities for access to previously prohibited
news and… it will enable China’s growing
Internet class to shake off the blinders placed
upon them by the government, eventually
leading to a more democratic political
framework” (Kluver & Qiu, 2003, pp. 31-32)
• Poses a potential political and social threat to
China’s current established order

5. Restricting & Monitoring Internet Access
• The internet is used for
more than just streaming
music and watching cat
videos; it provides access
to foreign knowledge and
concepts, and a forum for
personal expression
• Controlling content
potentially threatens
basic human rights like
freedom of expression
and the right to privacy
Figure 3. Galaxy Cat (Medina, n.d.)

6. So Internet Restriction is bad… right?
• Not necessarily!
• Controlling internet content can be beneficial
to society in the correct setting and with
suitable implementation, such as blocking
images of child pornography or restricting
witness protection records
• This does not mean all internet restrictions
are made with the public’s interest in mind!

7. Why else would you restrict the Internet?
• There are a variety of other reasons a
governing body like the People’s Republic of
China would claim necessitates restricted
internet access like that provided by the
Great Firewall of China, primarily related to:
– The country’s economy
– Governance & politics

8. Economic Factors
• Blocking major international sites and
browsers such as Facebook and Google with
the intention of “guarding against foreign
economic domination” (Walton, 2001)
• Promoting the domestic economy by
alleviating saturation of international online
sites and brands, leaving the market open for
local institutions and companies

9. Political Factors
• “The goal of the Chinese government’s Internet
filtering and censorship is to minimize the
discussions on sensitive political issues and to
avoid the potential organization of online anti-
government voices” (Lee & Liu, 2012, p. 139)
• Restriction of any structured or potentially
choreographed political opposition by shutting
down sites promoting destructive ideals or
supporting idealistically rivaling political parties

10. Detriments of Internet Censorship
• The ruling political powers may have their own agendas,
attempting to use the notion of ‘enhanced domestic economy’ or
‘destructive foreign ideologies’ to their own political benefit and
to ensure their enduring power
• A severe blow to the ‘global economy’ in the form of lost
international trade (both in goods and information exchange)
• Appropriate censorship is not clearly defined and can be
subjective based on the individual or organisation performing the
censoring
• In the case of the Great Firewall, the Chinese government has
never disclosed its filter’s targets or its filtering system’s explicit
criteria (Lee & Liu, 2012, p. 139)

11. Risks of the Great Firewall
• “Authoritarian states may use co-regulation to freeze out
free speech, censor the internet and overpower the
media. This is exactly what is happening now in China”
(Frydman, Hennebel, & Lewkowicz, 2012, p. 146)
• Any sites conflicting with the political leaders’ agendas
can be ‘silently’ blocked unbeknownst to the public
• Promotion of multiculturalism is actively purged and a
form of modern imperialism is enforced within China

12. Is it time the Great Firewall came down?
• Apparent studies within China suggest the citizens support the use
of the Great Firewall: is it then fair for ‘foreigners’ to deem their
institution a threat to human rights if the people being governed
desire this implementation?
• Can surveys suggesting the populace support the Great Firewall be
trusted, or are they yet more forms of governmental control and
manipulation of information?
• Is this issue an extension of “the propensity of the Western media
to sensationalize Internet censorship”? (Thornton, 2009, p. 265)
• The Great Firewall and its filters can be circumvented by
opponents of its use with a moderate degree of knowledge of
how the internet functions, although this yields both legal and
moral quandaries

13. References
• Billout, G. (2013). China Wall. Retrieved from http://www.artchipel.com/post/65331283838/guy-billout-
china-wall-watercolor-and-airbrush
• Frydman, B., Hennebel, L., & Lewkowicz, G. (2012). Co-regulation and the rule of law. In E. Brousseau,
M. Marzouki & C. Meadel (Eds.), Governance, Regulation and Powers on the Internet
(pp. 133-150). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press
• James, R. (2009, March 18). A Brief History of: Chinese Internet Censorship. Time.
• Kluver, R., & Qiu, J. L. (2003). China, the Internet and Democracy. In I. Banerjee (Ed.), Rhetoric and Reality:
The Internet Challenge for Democracy in Asia (pp. 26-60). Singapore: Eastern Universities Press
• Lee, J. , & Liu, C. (2012). Forbidden City Enclosed by the Great Firewall: The Law and Power of Internet
Filtering in China. Minnesota Journal of Law, Science, and Technology, 13(1), 125-151.
Retrieved from https://ssrn.com/abstract=2035788
• Lehnardt, K. (2016). Great Wall of China Facts. Retrieved from https://d3jkudlc7u70kh.cloudfront.net/
great-wall-of-china-facts.jpg
• Medina, M. (n.d.). Galaxy Cat. Retrieved from https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ea/5d/ca/ea5dca4056948
e013ca654c16910ecf4--galaxy-cat-the-galaxy.jpg
• Pngimg (n.d.). Gold Shield. Retrieved from http://pngimg.com/download/1274/?i=1
• Runkel, M. (2010). The Great Firewall of China: Political and economical implications of the Great Shield.
GRIN Verlag, Munich, Germany
• Thornton, P. M. (2009). Censorship and Surveillance in Chinese Cyberspace: Beyond the Great Firewall.
In P. H. Gries & S. Rosen (Eds.), Chinese Politics: State, Society, and the Market (pp.179-198).
London, UK: Routledge
• Walton, G. (2001). China’s Golden Shield: Corporations and the Development of Surveillance
Technology in the People’s Republic of China. Canada: Rights & Democracy