美国国际新闻社：中国:"防火长城"出现漏洞

末末的快乐

【原文标题】CHINA: Cracks Appearing in the "Great Firewall"
【登载媒体】国际新闻社
【来源地址】http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45856
【译者】末末的快乐
【声明】本翻译供Anti-CNN使用，转载请注明译者及出处，谢谢！
【译文】

中国︰ "防火长城"出现漏洞

文: Marina Litvinsky

华盛顿，2月23日(IPS)报道
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尽管中国的网络繁荣给了其公民许多表现自我的新渠道，但是网络成为表达政治异议的平台却由于政府的严格监控和内容审查而越发困难。

"审查(在中国)并不是完美的，但确实做得够了，没有人已经能通过网络组织一次成功的政治运动"，香港大学的新闻和媒体研究中心的助理教授丽蓓卡‧麦肯尼在星期三的卡内基国际和平捐赠会上发表了这样的讲话。

设在北京的中国互联网络信息中心的报告表明,中国互联网用户去年7月达到了2.53亿，使它为世界上最大的网络市场。据一项电话调查数据估计，将近70%的中国互联网用户为30岁或30岁以下的年轻人。

"互联网给已经使中国当局失去对文化的控制，特别是青年文化"，麦肯尼如是说。她从2004年起一直在研究中国和互联网的关系.

中国的年青人以各种方式使用互联网，甚至由于在YouTube影片交流网上贴出滑稽剪辑而弄得声名狼藉，例如"后舍男孩"。

"以前，如果你想要在文学上出名，你得通过与宣传部门相关的官方门道"，麦肯尼进一步解释。 "现下, 人们可以(直接)上传到互联网上。 "

麦肯尼还称，相较其它渠道，互联网的自由度给中国共产主义政府提出了新的挑战，而对那些指望互联网能给所有人带来民主的人来说，互联网是一项"网络梦想的挑战"。

能够上网并不意味着能了解所有的信息。中国政府工作现在比以往更努力地确保其公民远离那些贴上"粗俗"标签的内容。积极审查已经从政府部门扩展到私营公司里了。

麦肯尼在2006年为人权观察(HRW)写的一份报告《底线竞争︰在中国互联网上共谋审查》中指出，广为人知的中国网络审查监系统----"防火长城"，是世界上最先进的系统。中国政府及其安全部门雇佣了数以万计的人设计了一个政治审查系统。包括世界上几个互联网业里的巨擘在内的各个层面都已经与政府配合这个审查系统。

据麦肯尼的说法，政府操纵网络公司，使其参照特定标准担负起监视和审查的责任。某些标准看和审查内容源于网公司。在此刻互联网公司应决定他们的立场，他们到底"对这些规定有多积极？"

因受中国政府的要求，2005年5月， MSN设置专门的中国搜索引擎；一个月后，微软公司在全世界媒体和博客的批评声中，也对中文博客的标题设置了敏感字眼审查，例如“民主”，“自由”等。

2006年1月Google 发动了一个经过审查搜索引擎，Google.cn。该网址给用户提供被审查过的搜索结果，只有短小的介绍而没有更详细的资料。

与国际搜索引擎相比，中国本土的搜索引擎站点审查更严格。例如, 在Google.cn 站点上搜索字条"天安门大屠杀", 搜索到的信息比Google国际引擎要少, 血腥的图片都被省略了; 而在中国最受欢迎的搜索引擎---Baidu--上搜索相同字条, 完全没有搜索结果. Baidu在中国所占市场份额远比Google的要大。 HRW的这份报告还指出, 自胡锦涛主席在2003年上任以来，当局在因特网上已经采取一系列严厉的措施控制并且压制各种政治和宗教讲话，包括监禁和平表达政治意见的因特网评论家和博客。根据中国官方新华社的报道, 国家因特网管理人员称, 中国在2月10日关闭了包含色情和"淫秽"材料的276个站点，由此造成关闭网站总数达到1，911个.

制裁行动从1月5日开始，很可能会持续下去. 因为2009年中国有很多值得关注的周年纪念，包括1959年西藏起义50周年， "民主墙"运动30周年和1989年天安门支持民主运动20周年。所有这些都能在网上或现实中激起抗议和异议。

麦肯尼指出, 西方人通常错误地用"长城"或"铁幕"来形容中国的网络情况. 其实更准确的描述应该是"更象一个保姆。"

"不会一直都能达到100%的控制，但是(中国政府)的控制已经够了，没有人能组织起反动聚会"，麦肯尼说。"总而言之, 控制的目的就是，最大限度减少各种能引起行动的会谈。 "

据麦肯尼的说法，通过拆"墙"而在中国迎来民主的想法过于简单。中国民众并非全部都"愿意被拯救"。

尽管有审查这个问题的存在, 另一种论调却开始浮出. 中国公民觉得, 他们能在网上谈论许多话题, 而在过去的传统媒介上, 这样做是不可能的. 一些人利用因特网引起人们对社会问题的关注，比如说无家可归的问题，并组织基层群众提供帮助。对于政府来说，管理这样的行为比较困难, 因为通常是由个人发起的，并非是非政府组织, 没有可供监控的银行账户.

此外，当中国封锁人权观察和国际大赦这类的人权组织的站点时，律师就用因特网来发布关于公民权利案件的讯息。

同时，值得引起重视的是, 在中国有很多民族主义分子。例如由一个中国学生建立的反CNN 网站，指责外国媒体对中国的深度报道。

郭Ailin，一个中国学生, 目前在乔治‧华盛顿大学参加媒体与公共事务硕士学位项目. 她告诉IPS，"虽然我也意识到民主责任是必要的, 而审查是错误的，但是我赞成中国(对网络实施)审查，因为保持社会稳定才是必要的.这是从社会经济和政治各个方面来考虑的–尤其中国正在向市场经济过渡。"

"我认为, 一个起作用和操作性强的系统比盲目实践一个民主系统要好. 在中国历史上, 这种民主系统从未可行"，她说。

同时，很多人，特别是父母，认为因特网为一个非常混乱的地方 - 他们担心他们孩子成为网络诈骗犯和计算机黑客猎物。对他们来说，"政府(的审查行为)能使人在网络世界获得安全"，麦肯尼指出。

政府看到了因特网对国民的影响并利用了这一点。麦肯尼认为, 中国政府正大光明地利用因特网促使其人民与其连手, 没有多党合作与民主体系.

"因特网能延长共产党的执政时间"，她说。


【原文】

CHINA: Cracks Appearing in the "Great Firewall"

By Marina Litvinsky
WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (IPS) - While the Internet boom in China has given citizens new avenues for self-expression, the government's tight control and censorship of content has made it difficult for the web to act as a platform for any major political dissent.
"Censorship (in China) is not perfect, but works well enough that no one has been able to organise a successful political movement through the Internet," said Rebecca MacKinnon, assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong's Journalism and Media Studies Centre, speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Wednesday.

The China Internet Network Information Centre in Beijing says the number of Chinese Internet users reached 253 million last July, making it the world's largest Internet market. The estimate, based on a phone survey, found that nearly 70 percent of China's Internet users were 30 or younger.

"The Internet has brought a loss of control of authorities over culture, particularly youth culture," said MacKinnon, who has been studying China and the Internet since 2004.

Chinese youth are using the Internet in varied ways, even gaining international notoriety, like the "back dorm boys," by posting funny clips on the YouTube video sharing site.
"Before, if you wanted to be culturally famous, you needed to pass through official gatekeepers affiliated with the propaganda department," MacKinnon explained. "Now people are uploading (directly) onto the Internet."
While the relative freedoms of the Internet pose new challenges to the Communist Chinese government, MacKinnon contends that the Internet in China has served as a "challenge to cyber utopians" - people who hoped the Internet would bring democracy to all.

Access to the Internet has not meant complete access to all information. The Chinese government is working harder than ever to make sure citizens are protected from what it labels as "vulgar" content. The active role of censor has been extended from government offices into private companies。

A 2006 report by MacKinnon for Human Rights Watch (HRW), "Race to the Bottom: Corporate Complicity in Chinese Internet Censorship," points out that China's system of Internet censorship and surveillance, known as the "Great Firewall", is the most advanced in the world. Tens of thousands of people are employed by the Chinese government and security organs to implement a system of political censorship. This system is aided by extensive corporate and private sector cooperation, including by some of the world's major international technology and Internet companies.

According to MacKinnon, the government holds web companies responsible for watching and censoring content according to certain standards. Companies, however, are left to decide for themselves "how enthusiastically they respond to regulations."

In June 2005, a month after MSN China rolled out its Chinese portal, Microsoft came under criticism from the press and bloggers around the world for censoring words such as "democracy" and "freedom" in the titles of its Chinese blogs, at the request of the Chinese government.

In January 2006 Google rolled out its censored search engine, Google.cn. The site provides notice to users when search results have been censored but provides no further details.

Chinese search engine sites are even more censored than their international counterparts. While a search for "Tiananmen massacre" on the Google.cn site produced less results - omitting gory pictures - than on the international Google site, the same search on China's most popular search engine, Baidu, which has a greater market share in China than Google, produced no results at all. The HRW report said that since President Hu Jintao took office in 2003 the authorities have taken a series of harsh steps to control and suppress political and religious speech on the Internet, including the jailing of Internet critics and bloggers for peaceful political expression. According to Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, China shut down 276 websites that contained pornographic and "lewd" materials on Feb. 10, bringing the total number of closed websites to 1,911, the national Internet regulator said.

The crackdown started on Jan. 5 and will most likely continue as 2009 will see many notable anniversaries in China, including the 50th anniversary of the 1959 uprising in Tibet, the 30th anniversary of the "Democracy Wall" movement, and the 20th anniversary of the crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy Tiananmen protests. All of these could inspire protests and dissent both online and off.
MacKinnon points out that Westerners incorrectly tend to think of the Internet situation in China as a Great Wall or Iron Curtain metaphor. The more correct description would be "more like a nanny metaphor."
"There isn't 100 percent control all the time, but (the Chinese government) manages to control enough so that no one can organise oppositional parties," MacKinnon said. "The goal is to, in aggregate, minimise kinds of conversations that lead to action."
The idea that tearing down "the wall" will usher in democracy in China is overly simplistic, according to MacKinnon. The Chinese people are not all "waiting to be saved," she said.
Despite the censorship a diverse discourse is starting to emerge. Chinese citizens feel empowered in having conversations on the Internet that are not possible in traditional media spaces. Some citizens are using the Internet to raise awareness of social problems, like homelessness, and organise grassroots efforts. It is more difficult for the government to police such efforts as they are merely individuals organising people, not official non-governmental organisations with bank accounts that can be monitored.
Also, while China blocks the websites of such human rights organisations as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, lawyers are using the Internet to distribute information on civil rights cases.
At the same time, it is important to remember that there is a great deal of nationalism in China. Sites like Anti-CNN, established by a Chinese student, criticise the foreign media's portrayal of China.
Ailin Guo, a Chinese student currently enrolled in the media and public affairs master's programme at George Washington University here, told IPS, "Although I am consciously aware of the fact that democratic accountability is essential and censorship is wrong, I endorse the practice of censorship in China because it is necessary to maintain social stability, taken into consideration all the socio-economic and political factors - especially because China is under market transition."
"I believe a functioning and workable system is better than blindly implementing a democratic system, which was never viable in Chinese history," she said.
At the same time, many people, especially parents, view the Internet as a very chaotic place - they worry about their children falling prey to predators and cyber hackers. To them, "the government presents itself as helping (one) be safe in cyber world," MacKinnon noted.
The government recognises the influence the Internet has had on citizens and is using this to its advantage. MacKinnon sees China as potentially using the Internet to enable citizens to engage with government without a multi-party system or democratic institutions.

"The Internet could enable the Communist party to remain in power longer," she said.
(END/2009)