The Ten Thousand Internet Censors of Beijing and the Green Dam Girl
A news article in the Financial Times reports that the City of Beijing is planning to hire at least 10,000 volunteers by the end of 2009 to monitor the Internet for harmful websites and contents. This was said by an official from the Beijing municipal authority information office.
And this comes as China would require all computers that would be sold in China be equipped or bundled with the Green Dam/Youth Escort software starting July 1, 2009. The software was developed, by Jinhui Computer System Engineering and Dazheng Language Technology, for the Ministry of Industry and Information. Both firms were awared 41m Rnmb or $6m for the software - which blocks pornographic and other “bad” internet content.
This is one way of regulating Internet content. Bloggers in China have criticized these moves. And one of those moves is the creation of the Green Dam Girl - a female manga cartoon character wearing police cap with crab insignia, which is a pun on the word harmonious - a round-about way of describing a society without controversy, unrest, or opposition: a euphemism.
Keeping things in harmony.
This reminds me of the different ways different governments wants to keep things in harmony or react to the information, data, knowledge, and opinion not in accordance to the State official line.
Direct Methods:
1. Use of monitors and censors to check Internet content.
2. Alleged use of commentators and even bloggers to neutralize negative content
3. Use of legal measures against known net-critics and anti-government writers and bloggers
4. Banning of websites, blogs, forums, social media network and other forms of websites.
5. Official registration of web users.
Indirect Methods
1. Use of ISP providers to patrol the web content and shut down website hosted on their servers.
2. Use of software to filter/block (and maybe even monitor?) content.
During the Marcos years a white paper about Marcos and his cronies began to circulate. No Internet at the time. The white paper was photocopied and distributed. I wonder if there are copies still around?
A never ending game between the writer, reader and the thought police.
You’ve got to wonder whether those people working in the censor army are going to realize exactly what they’re doing. Makes me think of 1984 with the speakwrite operators rewriting history!
I also found this video though that points out that China isn’t being very clear about their requirements for the filter… there’s a chance it might not happen at all http://www.newsy.com/videos/chinese_filter_a_no_go
The end users were never required to install or run the bundled software. As to what Green Dam will filter, it is configuable by the user the parent choose to run it.
How this is twisted into censorhip is beyond me.
@Tony, according to reports and news articles there seems to be a general re-thinking of the policy.
@ Charles, According to the news articles from the Financial Times the makers were the ones who were required to bundle it with their computers. This was supposed to take effect July 1 - but (again according to the Financial Times) there seems to be a change of heart on this.