China police unleash Net filterware

The new filtering software is designed for use in Chinese households, Web cafes and schools

By Kristie Lu Stout
CNN.com Writer

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- The Ministry of Public Security has released new software to keep China's Internet free of cults, sex and violence.

The Guangming Daily News reports that the new software will "prevent search engines from reaching so-called 'evil' Web sites and other information including Falun Gong, porn, and violent material."

As Net surfers have easily sidestepped China's existing methods of controlling online content, China is taking an increasingly direct route to control the Internet on its home soil.

Network Policeman 110

QUOTE "It's a sign that the usual means to control the Internet... is not enough." - Eric Sutede, China Perspectives

The new filtering software, called "Network Policeman 110," is designed for use in multiple environments including Chinese households, Web cafes and schools.

The "Network Policeman" can monitor a packet of data transferred on the network, and can either discard or pass the packet if its contents are deemed subversive.

"It is a sign that the usual means to control the Internet -- asking users to register with the police, and making it criminal to access certain types of information -- is not enough," says Eric Sutede, China Internet analyst and editor of China Perspectives.

"They want to aim at the users directly."

Beijing-friendly Internet

Efforts to create a more Beijing-friendly Internet go back to February 1996, when China's State Council circulated a provision to regulate the interconnection of mainland computer networks with foreign computer networks.

In October, China's Ministry of Information Industries (MII) published sweeping new regulations on Internet companies to limit foreign investment and block all "subversive" content.

The October regulations dictate that Web sites are not allowed to publish information that "harms the state religious policy, propagandizes evil religions or feudal superstition," "threatens national security," or "spreads false rumor, pornography, gambling, and violence."

China routinely blocks Web sites of the Falun Gong movement, Tibetan exiles, Western media organizations including CNN and other information sources judged to be a threat to state interests.

But existing methods of filtering traffic by blocking domain names and Internet protocol addresses are already easily bypassed by using online caches such as the Google.com Web site or public proxies.

China has also employed raw intimidation -- including high-profile arrests of Web masters and Internet cafe police raids -- to exert control online.

Huang Qi, a young Web site administrator in Sichuan province, is standing trial after being jailed for more than eight months for posting articles about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre on his Web site.

Won't slow growth

China watchers maintain that development of the filtering software won't harm business in the mainland Internet sector.

QUOTE "With the availability of streaming media, China's control of the Internet has become much more urgent." - Duncan Clark, BDA

"This won't slow the growth of the Internet in China," says one Beijing-based Western diplomat.

"It should not unsettle foreign investors."

Internet content providers have long understood and respected the Internet taboos in China, and routinely practice self-censorship to prevent the dissemination of subversive content.

But the stakes are high enough for the Chinese government to warrant significant investment in a filtering system.

"With more bandwidth online, it's getting harder to control," says Duncan Clark, partner of the Beijing-based technology conultancy BDA.

"Interestingly, Real.com (a streaming media Web site) is blocked in China. With the availability of streaming media, China's control of the Internet has become much more urgent."

The China Internet Network Information Center, a state-sponsored Web monitor, estimates that there are 22.5 million Internet surfers in China as of January 2001.

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Ministry of Information Industry (MII)
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