China and the Internet: Protecting Public Morality

The internet has placed China in a dilemma. On one hand, China wants to present to the international community as a progressive nation, in all aspects. That was demonstrated by the extent that China focused on the Beijing Olympics. The drawback to technology is that the Chinese government authorities lose control of the dissemination of information.

Controlling the internet is paramount to the Chinese government officials:

“The Chinese authorities have launched a fresh campaign to get rid of unhealthy, vulgar and pornographic content on the internet.

The authorities have also published the names of 19 websites that have failed to heed requests to get rid of unsuitable material.”

link: China to ‘clean up’ the internet

The Chinese government frames these actions as a necessary protection of public morality. History shows that that argument has been used frequently to justify censorship. It is the government making decisions about what should be viewed; and no matter how it is presented, it remains censorship.

Catherine Forsythe