Internet censorship in China

Internet censorship in China is the control and suppression of published or viewed material on the internet in the People's Republic of China. More than sixty online restrictions have been created by the Government of China, which have been implemented by provincial branches of state-owned ISPs, companies, and organizations.[1 According to CNN, China's Internet censorship is considered more extensive and advanced than that in any other country in the world. The Chinese government not only blocks website content, but also monitors individuals' Internet access. Many controversial events are strictly prevented from being broadcast on news services, blindsiding many Chinese citizens as they have little to no knowledge of any of their government's actions. Such measures have earned the nickname "The Great Firewall of China."

Different methods are used to block certain websites or pages including DNS poisoning, blocking access to IP addresses, analyzing and filtering URLs, packet inspection, and resetting connections.

Amnesty International notes that China has "the largest recorded number of imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents in the world"and Paris-based Reporters Without Borders stated in 2010 and 2012 that "China is the world's biggest prison for netizens."Commonly reported offenses include communicating with groups abroad, signing online petitions, and calling for government reform. The escalation of the government's effort to neutralize critical online opinions comes after a series of large anti-pollution and anti-corruption protests, as well as ethnic riots, many of which were organized or publicized using instant messaging services, chat rooms, and text messages. The size of the Chinese internet police force was reported by the state media to be 2 million in 2013.

Carrie Gracie wrote that local Chinese businesses such as Baidu, Tencent, and Alibaba, some of the world's largest Internet enterprises, benefited from the way China restricted international rivals in the market.

Although the censorship affects the whole nation, it does not affect China's special administrative regions such as Hong Kong and Macau. These regions enjoy a high degree of autonomy, as specified in local laws and the "One country, two systems" principle. However, it was reported that the central government authorities have been closely monitoring Internet use in these regions.

The Ordinance regulation further led to the Security Management Procedures in Internet Accessing issued by the Ministry of Public Security in December 1997. The regulation defined "harmful information" and "harmful activities" regarding internet usage. Section Five of the Computer Information Network and Internet Security, Protection, and Management Regulations approved by the State Council on 11 December 1997 stated the following:

• No unit or individual may use the Internet to create, replicate, retrieve, or transmit the following kinds of information: 
• Inciting to resist or obstruct the implementation of the Constitution, legislation or administrative regulations; 
• Inciting to overthrow the government or the socialist system; 
• Inciting division of the country, harming national unification; 
• Inciting hatred or discrimination among ethnic groups or harming the unity of ethnic groups; 
• Fabricating or distorting the truth, spreading rumors, destroying the order of society; 
• Promoting feudal superstitions, obscenity, pornography, gambling, violence, murder, terrorism or encouraging criminal activity; 
• Publicly insulting or distorting the truth to slander other people; 
• Defaming state organizations; 
• Other activities against the Constitution, legislation and administrative regulations 

Fines and short arrests are becoming an optional punishment to whoever spreads undesirable information through the different Internet formats, as this is seen as a risk to social stability.

In 2001, Wang Xiaoning and other Chinese activists were arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison for using a Yahoo! email account to post anonymous writing to an Internet mailing list. On 23 July 2008, the family of Liu Shaokun was notified that he had been sentenced to one year re-education through labor for "inciting a disturbance". As a teacher in Sichuan province, he had taken photographs of collapsed schools and posted these photos online. On 18 July 2008, Huang Qi was formally arrested on suspicion of illegally possessing state secrets. Huang had spoken with the foreign press and posted information on his website about the plight of parents who had lost children in collapsed schools. Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist, used his Yahoo! email account to send a message to a U.S.-based pro-democracy website. In his email, he summarized a government order directing media organizations in China to downplay the upcoming 15th anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy activists. Police arrested him in November 2004, charging him with "illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities". In April 2005, he was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment and two years' subsequent deprivation of his political rights.

In mid-2013 police across China announced the arrests of hundreds of people accused of spreading false rumors online. Chinese authorities have said the crackdown is directed at abuses such as fraud, fakery, and slander. But the accusations against many of the arrested microbloggers have a political edge with many of the rumors called outrageously false by the government dealing with the sins of officials: corruption, venality, and sexual escapades. The suspicion is that the crackdown is intended to break up online networks of like-minded people whose ideas could challenge the Communist Party. Some of China's most popular microbloggers have been arrested. In September 2013 China's highest court and prosecution office issued guidelines that define and outline penalties for publishing online rumors and slander. The rules give some protection to citizens who accuse officials of corruption, but they say that a slanderous message forwarded more than 500 times or read more than 5,000 times could result in up to three years in prison.