China wants Internet police

[ParamouR]

We all know that China controls their internet with an iron fist. But did you know that they want the UN to enforce their censorship policies? And if they don't, China isn't afraid to do it themselves

China wants to control your Internet. China's internet censorship policies ('The Great Firewall') are well known, but apparently total control in their country isn't enough; they're now trying to expand their reach beyond their borders.

It began a few weeks ago when China's ambassador for disarmament affairs, Wang Qun, addressed the First Committee of the UN General Assembly on 'internet security.'

In this information age, 'information highway' has reached almost all corners of our planet. It is worrisome, however, that in this virtual space where traffic is very heavy, there is, hitherto, no comprehensive traffic rule. As a result, 'traffic accidents' in information and cyberspace constantly occur with ever increasing damage and impact...

Therefore, the development of international norms and rules guiding the activities in information and cyberspace [read: censorship] in various countries... [We must] work together to make information and cyberspace technology produce more development dividends and better serve world peace and well-being of mankind.

Essentially, Qun urged the UN to set up a system of 'norms and rules' – censorship – to regulate the Internet worldwide. China wants to see The Great Firewall expand worldwide. This doesn't come as much of a surprise, as it's no secret that China has been involved in many attacks on foreign servers; and this isn't the first time that they've suggested it to the UN, either.

Britain's Foreign Secretary, William Hague, responded a few days later by saying that “Nothing would be more fatal or self-defeating than the heavy hand of state control on the Internet... We reject the view that government suppression of the Internet, phone networks, and social media at times of unrest is acceptable.” Oddly enough, the UK has expressed interest in internet censorship of their own, (although not nearly as suppressive as China's), which didn't go anywhere.

Hague also accused China of attacking the British government's computers, something he backed down from the next day, saying that the source of the attacks was “very difficult to verify.”

The chances of the UN listening to Mr. Qun are about the same as the chances of them listening to Mr. Ahmadinejad or the late Colonel Gaddafi. But China's willingness to make things happen for themselves is troubling: they know how to hack our systems; many business and private servers are woefully insecure and even 'secure' government networks aren't all that secure. If they want to suppress a website that's located beyond their borders through malicious means, who is going to stand up to them?

The Internet is the greatest tool for communication and the sharing of information that the world has ever seen. It's essential that it remains free and open. No nation, no organization, no company, and no person should control it. There's more to this than the threat of corporate interests sticking their fingers in the Internet. There are people out there who actually do want to take your internet away from you, and they aren't nearly as ethical as AT&T. No petition and no amount of lobbying will fix that - the only thing we can do is stand up for ourselves and work to make sure that our networks are secure.

[SealLion]

China already has an 'internet police' that monitors people in internet-cafe shops as an example to ensure they don't go where they're not supposed to be. To further this point, the Chinese have laws which include regulations on media with vague language that authorities there can use to claim that stories would endanger the country by sharing state secrets.

The main law in China is called the "Law on Guarding State Secrets" which is used to tighten its control over information flows in and out of that county. The Chinese have the definition of state secrets remains vague because they simply want to use it to censor any information the authorities might deem as harmful to their political or economic interests. Political interests is the main theme.
Plain and simply put.

Additionally, sometime last year, the Chinese published a white paper that is somewhat related to this topic. Basically, the published article or white paper went on to say that the concept of "Internet sovereignty," --- within China, of course, would require all internet users in that country, including any and all foreign organizations and individuals, to abide by Chinese laws and regulations. For most obvious reasons of course.

Lastly, who is going to stop China from doing what it wants?? It already has a growing navy on the China Sea and other geographical areas around the world that, woah..would you believe it??....is seen as an intrusion to countries like the States that want to maintain their military monopoly throughout the world which, as it happens is being continually challenged by countries like Russia and of course, China. The US is/has been intruding into other countries territory for a number of years.

And aside from China's growing military might so too is it's economy. Want to battle it out with China using economics?? You'd lose. It's a bastion of imports and exports.

[slikrapid]

@article without a source link:

China wants to control your Internet.

lol, no, they want to control online activities within china and that which comes into china (or to what the chinese citizens have access to), in other words they want to control china (primary objective) - since china is connected to other parts of the world, they want to influence that part as well (secondary objective) - same as any other country/government/system in the world, the difference being in the applied techniques (usa/europe: mostly gloves, china: mostly brute force)

'your internet'?

But did you know that they want the UN to enforce their censorship policies?

fyi. the UN (and EU) would be delighted to pump-up the censorship policies, though they have to play the nice guys (good cop) for the public, while their massive globalist bureaucracy gets filled with all kinds of more or less hidden censorship elements (don't forget self-censorship as well)

And if they don't, China isn't afraid to do it themselves

lol, they can't do it alone and they are not alone - censorship is one of the basics for establishing a globally harmonized multinational system, ie. all major governments/countries, major international organizations & major multinational companies want it and are actively preparing the ground for establishing iton a global level


@SealLion:

China already has an 'internet police' that monitors people in internet-cafe shops as an example to ensure they don't go where they're not supposed to be.

whereas 'the west' has multiple 'policing' units, from intelligence/governmental agencies to various corporate extensions (riaa, mpaa,...), lobbyist organizations, surveillance systems, etc. - all of which monitor many areas of online activity, collect data, create dossiers and occasionally use them against suitable targets (lawsuits, raids, takedowns, warnings, interference), not to mention actively spread their propaganda attempting to shape/influence public opinion/actions - this article is another example of such one-sided propaganda or scaremongering (this time against china)

To further this point, the Chinese have laws which include regulations on media with vague language that authorities there can use to claim that stories would endanger the country by sharing state secrets.

substitute the word chinese/china with any other country and the statement would also be correct

And aside from China's growing military might so too is it's economy. Want to battle it out with China using economics?? You'd lose. It's a bastion of imports and exports.

china's power would crumble like a house of cards if other (major) countries decided to boycott their products/market (the opposite applies too, though to a lesser extent), which is why it will play along with other key global players, trying to find a most self-suiting compromise with them

[SealLion]

@slik:

china's power would crumble like a house of cards if other (major) countries decided to boycott their products/market (the opposite applies too, though to a lesser extent), which is why it will play along with other key global players, trying to find a most self-suiting compromise with them

I don't quite agree with that statement. For one thing, to boycott a major economic player like China is pretty complicated to do so. It's not like some other economic player in the Euro zone or North America could economically boycott South Africa like it did in the 80's during the apartheid era or boycott Libya and have economic boycotts and no-fly zones enabled there as it did formerly in the 90's. Those countries, if we were to use them as examples, were small potatoes.

China isn't a small potato.

When you go to Walmart and you buy your jeans there or some nice shirt or electronic device like your TV for example, chances are that it is made in China. Want to buy a leather jacket?? Most likely it's made in Pakistan or China.

If you own a company that deals in importing clothing goods or some other material goods, chances are you want to save your company money on the purchase or production of those goods. If you can sell items at a more economically advantaged price to your customers than what your competitors sell them at, you will keep your customers happy and you'll see a return business from them. So you look for an importer that imports materials made in China. Labor is cheaper there.

It's even cheaper when it's made in the gulags there.

If some national government policy or idea was brought up in Parliament and the ruling government decided to boycott China's goods from entering your country, the industries that deal in selling material goods would be in uproar. Automakers would definitely not be happy. For example, Chrysler has some of it's windows made in China before they are shipped to the production plant to be placed on the car. This includes other auto parts.

The Chinese ethnic population probably would not be too happy either knowing that they can't buy any Chinese foods at the local Chinese grocery store. This includes Chinese herbal goods I know are sold just about everywhere. Even here in my neighborhood there is a Chinese herbal store that has nothing but Chinese herbal goods for sale. This includes the Chinese grocery store that is a 15 min. drive from my place. It sells nothing but Chinese groceries and staples.

Many, many industries rely on imports from Chian. It's an economic power house to say the least. Many western countries are wanting to deal-and-wheel with China. As I said, labor is cheap there.

Disregarding any kind of quality considerations. Would you rather buy a pair of shoes for $35 bucks or would you rather save some money and buy them for 15 bucks if you could??

It's not just about saving money that industries would be concerned about. It's also trade. Take Canada for example. The majority of it's trade is with the States and for the last number of years, Parliament has been steadily moving away from doing about 75% of it's trade with the States. The country is seeking trade with other partners to reduce reliance on trade with the States. Makes sense, yes??

I mean, why hold all your eggs in one basket??
What if the basket drops (the State's economy becomes less stable) and you get egg yolk everywhere (your own economy tumbles as a result of too much trade with them)??

Best to do trade with other trade partners like Mexico, Philippians, Europe, and China.

To boycott China is not as simple as it is. It's fairly complicated overall. A lot of business rides on that trade.

[slikrapid]

China isn't a small potato.

its still just a potato, albeit a hot(ter) one - or a nut, just a tougher one, meaning everything can apply to them just like it does to any other country of lesser importance/ability/power, the difference being in the level of needed power to accomplish the goal and that of the possible repercussions

To boycott China is not as simple as it is. It's fairly complicated overall. A lot of business rides on that trade.

and china knows it, which is why they can afford the luxury to push harder (without overstepping their bounds or pushing their luck too much/far) for their interests


but make no mistake, economic profit is not at the top of the priorities list regarding major players, its just the most visible/discussed one, its superficial - at the top reside interests like power & control, ie. if acquiring/expanding them requires great financial expenditure (economically unprofitable in the short run, questionable in the long run), it will take precedence over the financial aspect - in other words, money talks big, but these talk even bigger

[SomeGuy]

China are the Taliban of the internet