THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT is attempting to hold back the sea with its decision, reached yesterday, to control content on the Internet. This is the most significant policy update to Internet content distribution in the last 5 years.
“Major search engines and portals like Sina.com and Sohu.com, used by millions of Chinese each day, must stop posting their own commentary articles and instead make available only opinion pieces generated by government-controlled newspapers and news agencies, the regulations stipulate.
The rules also state that private individuals or groups must register as “news organizations” before they can operate e-mail distribution lists that spread news or commentary. Few individuals or private organizations are likely to be allowed to register as news organizations, meaning they can no longer legally distribute information by e-mail.
Existing online news sites, like those run by newspapers or magazines, must “give priority” to news and commentary pieces distributed by the leading national and provincial news organs.
This restriction on the ability of Web sites to republish articles produced by the huge array of news organizations that do not fall under direct government control seems intended to ensure that the Propaganda Department has time to filter content generated by local publications before it can be widely disseminated on the Internet.
The new rules are the first major update to policies on Internet news and opinion since 2000…”
Full Article: NY Times: China Tightens Its Restriction for News Media on the Internet
The Chinese Were Coming, The Chinese Were Coming!
