Boston, USA - China is the leading censor of the Internet, a recent study has found, noting that the country filters Web sites, e-mail, blogs Latest News about Blogs and online forums in an effort to quash political dissent.
According to the OpenNet Initiative, China employs thousands of officials and private citizens in its Internet censorship campaign. The study stated that the system is "pervasive, sophisticated, and effective."
The initiative brought together researchers from Harvard University, the University of Cambridge and the University of Toronto. Volunteers within China helped researchers by running specially designed programs to discover what content got blocked by governmental authorities.
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Some of the topics considered politically sensitive are Taiwanese and Tibetan independence, the Dalai Lama, political group Falun Gong, anti-Communist sentiment and the Tiananmen Square incident.
The initiative's project leader, John Palfrey, told officials in a Congressional hearing that China has an extensive technological system for Internet censorship and surveillance.
The censorship effort has been made stronger with a breadth of filtering tools that can adapt to emerging forms of communication like blogs, the study noted.
Game Off
In addition to the study's results, China has also been notorious for banning software and games that it finds questionable. Last June, the country established a committee specifically to review online games in response to a booming game market.
In December, the country banned an online sports game that portrayed Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Tibet as independent countries.
At the time, China's Ministry of Culture condemned "Football Manager 2005," produced by British firm Sports Interactive, because it posed "harm to the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity."
Tricky Balance
For U.S. companies, expanding into China is a delicate endeavor, said Yankee Group analyst Laura DiDio.
"Everyone is talking about the Chinese market, and there's good reason for that," she said. "But you also have to remember that this is a still a Communist country."
She points to recent concerns over Lenovo's deal with IBM Latest News about IBM, which sparked high-level governmental discussions regarding national security Latest News about Security.
"This isn't just a cultural conflict," said DiDio. "There are legitimate security reasons why companies have to tread carefully in dealing with China."