From: "E. Allen Smith" <EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU>
Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1996 12:08:34 -0700 (PDT)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Chinese internal internet
Message-ID: <01IAWMVWDQSGA733QP@mbcl.rutgers.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


	I seem to recall someone predicting that China and other such countries
would set up an internal net with strict controls. Good prediction... I wouldn't
be surprised to see Cuba recruited to it, for instance, although North Korea
doesn't appear likely (too insular).
	-Allen

>   ______________________________________________________________________
>                                  Centura
>   ______________________________________________________________________
>               China's Xinhua launches business computer network
>  __________________________________________________________________________
                                       
>      Copyright (c) 1996 Nando.net
>      Copyright (c) 1996 Reuter Information Service
      
>   BEIJING (Oct 21, 1996 10:25 a.m. EDT) - A China-wide computer network
>   launched by a subsidiary of the official news agency Xinhua on Monday
>   will take Chinese businesses online and supply them with news and
>   economic information, company officials said.
   
>   The China Wide Web (CWW) created by China Internet Corp would provide
>   Chinese customers with online services in their own language and would
>   give overseas subscribers a window on to the Chinese business world,
>   company chairman Ma Yunsheng said.

	I've about concluded that we'll see a Web dominated by two languages -
English and Japanese. It's very hard for native speakers of Indo-European
languages to learn Japanese, it's very hard for native speakers of Japanese
to learn English, and no other such language has a prosperous-enough home
country to work. Such internal nets may alter this, however...
   
[...]

>   In January, Xinhua was appointed the government regulator for foreign
>   suppliers of economic information in China, a role that some analysts
>   say clashes with its involvement in enterprises that supply financial
>   and business data.
   
[...]

>   Unlike the open-access Internet, CWW was modelled on internal company
>   networks or "intranets," Edelson said.
   
>   "There will be a lot of real-time information available," he said. "I
>   think there's going to be very fast growth from a zero start."
   
>   China Internet would enjoy free use of Xinhua's communications network
>   and already had access agreements with the powerful Minstry of Posts
>   and Telecommunications, he said.
   
>   Ma said domestic economic information would also be available through
>   Xinhua news services and databases. He declined to say how many
>   clients were expected to subscribe.

	Heavily edited domestic economic information...
   
>   The Internet is viewed by some Chinese officials as a haven for
>   pornography and political dissent but CWW would likely be a
>   politically correct alternative.
   
>   "CWW should reflect Chinese culture," technology officer Wong said,
>   without giving details.

	Ah, yes, the old claim of cultural difference to try to justify
censorship. So Nazi Germany was due to a cultural difference?
   
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