From: "E. Allen Smith" <EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU>
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 08:07:19 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Chinese Censorship
Message-ID: <01IA25JKUW7C8WWVXE@mbcl.rutgers.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


>     _________________________________________________________________
>   Cisco-Job Fair
>     _________________________________________________________________
>                  CHINA RELAXES CONTROLS ON INTERNET ACCOUNTS
>   __________________________________________________________________________
>      Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net
>      Copyright &copy 1996 Reuter Information Service

>   SHANGHAI (Sep 25, 1996 08:48 a.m. EDT) - China has removed limits on
>   the country's number of Internet accounts following the recent
>   installation of safety controls on the computer network, a senior
>   Shanghai telecommunications official said on Wednesday.

	Safety controls... nice euphemism, similar to "key recovery".
   
>   "Some time ago, our security arrangements were incomplete and there
>   was a problem with pornographic and politically unacceptable
>   material," said Zhang Weihua, vice-president of the Shanghai Post and
>   Telecommunications Administration.

[...]

>   Zhang said access to sites on the Internet containing pornographic or
>   politically unacceptable material had been restricted, adding, "This
>   material is restricted all over the world."
  
>   He declined to give details of the security controls placed on the
>   servers, saying he was only responsible for the technical side of the
>   service.
   
>   But Zhang did say he was unaware of any restrictions on access to
>   major international news sites through China's Internet servers.
   
>   Foreign reports have suggested that China has cut off access to such
>   news sites. Analysts say that China is concerned over development of
>   public computer networks and their use by people opposed to communist
>   rule or communist policies.
   
[...]

>   Zhang said for "security" reasons there was a need to control
>   information and discussion on the Internet and related bulletin board
>   services.
   
>   "But surveys done on the usage and interests of people in China with
>   Internet access indicate that virtually all the material they wanted
>   to look at is domestic," he said.

	Due to language differences, I would guess.
   
>   China's key Internet Service Provider (ISP) selling access accounts is
>   Chinanet, controlled by the Post and Telecommunications Bureau.
   
>   Zhang said the bureau took measures earlier this year to control
>   unauthorised activities of other access providers, including
>   Shanghai's Fudan University, in order to handle the security issue.
   
>   China currently has access points to the Internet in Beijing and
>   Shanghai. It has no plans to add more, Zhang said.
   
>   He said his department was being assisted in building its computer
>   network by several American-Chinese originally from mainland China who
>   spent time working with the U.S. space agency NASA.

	I see.... (grimace)
   
>    Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net