Internet LawsInternet Privacy

China’s Efforts to Enforce Their Very Own Internet Laws

Immigration Forms With all the recent debate as to what it is that should constitute as an Internet law, China has also risen to become ahead of the curve in this matter of technology. However, this time around, unlike one of their latest technological inventions, China has made no secret of it. Even if you have been hiding under a rock for the past 6 months, you still may have heard about the Internet laws that China has imposed on its citizens. China’s goal for enforcing these Internet laws is due to their recent efforts to tackle the growing issue of child pornography. There approach to Internet laws, as some will tell you, is “by any means necessary.” China is using the restraints of Internet laws to purify their land of these horrific instances of child pornography. So far, their approach to Internet law has caused quite a backlash among the inhabitants of the country. The country’s drastic Internet laws have also caused quite a stir across other nations, as well.

1. Many people were surprised to hear that the Internet laws in China were strengthening because they believed that they were going to be able to slowly release themselves from China’s tight Internet law governing grip. Others were not as surprised seeing as though there seems to have always have been some sort of restriction on what the Chinese experience while online. Just over a decade before China announced the new set of Internet laws, there was a previous Internet law that caused quite an uprival. In December 1997, China’s Public Security Minister Zhu Entao, passed an Internet law that stated that a fine will be allocated by those who were found guilty of “defaming government agencies,” “splitting the nation,” and disclosing “state secrets.” Nonetheless, in 2001, some of the bans of online access of news organizations such as CNN, The New York Times, and the Washington Post were uplifted.

2. One of China’s earliest efforts in terms of Internet law in the summer of 2009 was to put a ban to the popular websites Youtube, Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook. The new Internet law also forbids several other websites that promote file sharing, as well as many of the prominent music and video download websites. Some were so outraged by the recent Internet laws, more specifically with the Twitter ban, that they flooded the t.people.com.cn server with their activity. Due to the new Internet laws, this gesture made the website have the potential influence of the Twitter website, and was immediately taken down.

3. The recent development in the China Internet law sequel has to do with domain names. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is working to cease the development of domain names at this time. The new Internet law goes on to say that if an individual or a company has not registered their user name as of yet, then it is simply too late to act now. In addition, the Internet law states that foreign nations’ also have to be registered with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in order to be considered.