In June 2009 the Chinese government issued a sweeping directive requiring all personal computers sold in the country to pre-install software called “Green Dam-Youth Escort”, which, according to the government, filters out pornography and other “unhealthy information” from the internet. Key issues such as political censorship, privacy, surveillance, bureaucratic interests, technical flaws and intellectual property right infringement were raised and discussed in anticipation of Green Dam’s launch. Many Chinese netizens believed that the government ultimately sought to introduce strict online censorship, invading people’s privacy and violating human rights in the process. Due to strong pressure, the government conceded by announcing that computer manufacturers and retailers were no longer obliged to ship the software with new computers for home or business use.

China boasts the world’s largest internet population. As of the end of June 2009, China had 338 million internet users, an increase of 13.4% from half a year ago and surpassing the total population of the US. China was not connected to the Internet until 1994, and in 1997 there were only 670,000 internet users. Currently 25.5% of China’s total population are netizens. 181 million are bloggers.

In June 2009, about half of China’s netizens (50.5%) were young adults aged 20 to 39, whereas those above the age of 50 comprised only 5.7%. With the Internet becoming more popular among Chinese youth in particular, on-line activism has become politically influential. Some cases exposed corruption of government officials, while others led to a change or withdrawal of controversial policies that led to social injustice.

The protest against Green Dam, together with the prevailing online nationalism in China against the western media before the Olympics last year, reveals the instrumental role played by China’s fast-growing online community in setting political, economic and social agendas. The government, facing intractable challenges from independent and populist voices on the internet, has always sought to retain the option of tightening online control. As the rising online community plays an ever more important role, the government is stuck between a rock and hard place especially since they find the much more manageable traditional media increasingly bypassed by its citizens in favour of the web. In 2009, a horrifying Internet video of two Uighurs being beaten to death in front of hundreds of onlookers in Guangdong Province helped to trigger the deadliest ethnic violence in Xinjiang in decades. The power of the web in mobilizing Chinese society was especially evident against “biased” western media outlets before the Olympics, and over the tragedy of Sun Zhigang, a college graduate who was beaten to death while in police custody in Guangzhou.

Many Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in China host their own websites, maintaining active mailing lists that send information to subscribers by email and engaging in dialogue with other interest groups. At present, information exchanges between NGOs through e-forums and e-newsletters are becoming increasingly frequent. When just one or two NGO websites begin to discuss certain sensitive issues, these issues tend to spread quickly to other websites and even take centre stage in traditional media like newspapers and television.

Immediately after the country was connected to the internet in the 1990s, the Chinese government passed regulations on computer network security. Since 2000, the state control of the internet has been tightened due to the soaring number of netizens. In October 2000, the Ministry of Information Industry announced regulations on electronic bulletin boards. In November 2000, the State Council regulated that commercial websites could only reprint news items from official agencies and were prohibited from independently producing news. Since then, the Chinese government has been trying to curb anti-government voices and online pornography through technological means such as filtering, although the initial effect was not satisfactory. In 2003, the Ministry of Public Security launched the Golden Shield Project, an internet filtering system that can be used for censorship and surveillance. The project deploys firewalls to block access to unhealthy internet information such as pornography and politically sensitive content. This filtering system, however, runs at the network level, and can be bypassed by some internet service providers. Compared with traditional media, the internet has the advantage of speed, broad reach and interactivity.

Despite political controls and censorship from the government, Chinese internet users still find it a more convenient resort for public expression and political activism, especially against the backdrop of strict restrictions over traditional media. The Green Dam is nothing more than yet another attempt by the government to control information on the internet in the face of a rising online civic society. Technically speaking, due to its multi-media and broadcaster-recipient interaction characteristics, the web is different from traditional media in that sufficient censorship is almost unfeasible with filtering ridden with loop holes.

From an economics perspective, the synergy between the online community and e-businesses has placed the government in a quandary. Sensitive online content and critical commentary often generate high volume of web traffic. Both online businesses and computer software and hardware sales will be affected if internet filtering is stepped up. This is not what the top leadership wants to see, especially in the context of the current economic slowdown and consumption downturn.

Internet regulation has increasingly become a great concern for the Chinese government in particular, and for other governments in general, be they democratic or authoritarian. Keeping a balance between proper regulation and respect for people’s civic rights and privacy is a difficult and delicate act to accomplish, especially in view of China’s more recent history.