China Wants to Set
the Rules for the Global Internet
by John Hayward 29 Jul 2015
As James T. Areddy at the Wall Street
Journal tells it, the Chinese military was
deeply troubled by the role a supposedly U.S.-dominated Internet played in
destabilizing other despotic governments and warned Beijing could be next. The warning described the
Internet as “a new form of global control” and the United States as a “shadow”
hovering behind various uprisings.
The warning evidently resonated with the Chinese Politburo,
as Areddy reports they are “pushing to rewrite the rules of the global
Internet, aiming to draw the world’s largest group of Internet users away from
an interconnected global commons and to increasingly run parts of the Internet
on China’s terms.”
It envisions a future in which governments patrol online
discourse like border-control agents, rather than let the U.S., long the
world’s digital leader, dictate the rules.
President Xi Jinping—with the help of conservatives in
government, academia, military and the technology industry—is moving to exert
influence over virtually every part of the digital world in China,
from semiconductors to social media. In doing so, Mr. Xi is trying to fracture
the international system that makes the Internet basically the same everywhere,
and is pressuring foreign companies to help.
On July 1, China’s legislature passed a new security law
asserting the nation’s sovereignty extends into cyberspace and calling for
network technology to be “controllable.” A week later, China released a draft
law to tighten controls over the domestic Internet, including codifying the
power to cut access during public-security emergencies.
Other draft laws under consideration would encourage Chinese
companies to find local replacements for technology equipment purchased abroad
and force foreign vendors to give local authorities encryption keys that would
let them control the equipment.
As the WSJ piece details, China now has the
commercial clout to force its grim ideology on the Internet in much the same
fashion:
Such a strategy would have been impossible a few years ago
when Western companies dominated the Internet. That has started to change with the
rise of Chinese powers such as e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.,
online conglomerate Tencent HoldingsLtd. and information aggregator Sina Corp.,
which enable Chinese citizens to enjoy most services Westerners use, plus some
unique to China, without needing Google Inc. or Facebook Inc. Chinese companies
are easier for Beijing to control and have a history of censoring users upon
demand.
The government is directing financial and policy support
toward domestic firms that are developing semiconductors and servers that can
replace ones provided by Western players. Earlier this year, Premier Li Keqiang
unveiled Internet Plus, a strategy to incubate Chinese companies that integrate
mobile, cloud and other types of computing with manufacturing and business.
It would actually be less toxic for the cause of freedom
around the world if China used all those blueprints it has been stealing from
Western companies to manufacture its own hardware, instead of muscling foreign
companies into playing its game. Unfortunately, Western companies eager to
retain Chinese market shares are falling all over themselves to please Beijing
and prove themselves compatible with the communist agenda. The WSJ
mentions LinkedIn,
Hewlett-Packard,
and Apple among
the companies that have made significant concessions to Chinese censorship
and/or online surveillance.
It is also mentioned that China likes to use Edward Snowden and his leaks about American cyber intelligence
as a rhetorical club for demanding greater Chinese control of the Internet, for
those still working to total up in the incredible damage Snowden caused. His
superfans should set aside their congratulatory rhetoric about freedom of
information and come to terms with the hard, cold fact that the Internet will
end up less free around the globe because of what he did.
As mentioned above, China finds sympathetic ears across the
world when it complains about excessive freedom of speech and privacy for
citizens, everywhere from Russia to Europe and the United States. This is one
of the reasons the American Left has been so disturbingly sympathetic to
Islamic speech codes, after spending decades posturing as free-thinking,
anti-religious, censorship-thwarting, provocative iconoclasts. They like the
idea of imposing more stringent controls on speech, and they’re quite happy to
throw Islamists a bone about forbidding Mohammed cartoons to win their support.
They agree on principle that free speech must be restricted to protect
government power and maintain order.
The Western left, abetted by the well-fed trans-partisan
bureaucratic class, will likewise agree with China that the Internet should be
more heavily regulated and monitored. There will be some dispute about the
details, but China has enough economic leverage to render most of these
disputes academic. The cost of maintaining special hardware, software, and
operating parameters just for the huge Chinese market, plus other domineering
environments like Turkey or Russia, will be too high for international vendors
to bear; it’s better to devise universal standards acceptable to the most
demanding governments.
The safe bet is that tomorrow’s online world will look much
closer to Beijing’s vision than the wild, creative, messy, and sometimes
fearsome digital anarchy American users are currently accustomed to.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd
Note:
Google Inc. was a
funder for the
Bill, Hillary &
Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the
Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the
Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), and the
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the
Open Society Foundations, the co-chair, national finance council
for the
Ready PAC (Ready for Hillary),
and was the chairman for the
Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
Hillary Rodham
Clinton was a director at the
Bill, Hillary
& Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and a presidential candidate for the
2016 presidential election (Ready PAC
(Ready for Hillary).
Marc L. Andreessen
is a director at the
Hewlett-Packard Co.,
a director at
Facebook, and was an angel
investor for the
LinkedIn Corporation.
Lisa P. Jackson
is a director at the
Bill, Hillary &
Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and is the VP for
Apple Inc.
Susie Tompkins
Buell was a funder for the
Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and is a national finance council
member for the
Ready PAC (Ready for
Hillary).
Audre Rapoport
was a funder for the
Bill, Hillary &
Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and a contributor for the
Ready PAC (Ready for Hillary).
Jon M. Huntsman
Jr. is the chairman for the
Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), a trustee at the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), and was the
China U.S.
ambassador for the
Barack Obama
administration.
J.
Stapleton Roy was a U.S. ambassador for
China, and is a trustee at the
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
Shirley M.
Tilghman is a trustee at the
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and a director at the
Google Inc.
Google censors itself for China
Last Updated: Wednesday, 25 January 2006, 08:45 GMT
Leading
internet company Google has said it will censor its search services in China in order to gain greater access
to China's fast-growing market.
Google has offered a
Chinese-language version of its search engine for years but users have been
frustrated by government blocks on the site.
The company is setting up a new
site - Google.cn - which it will censor itself to satisfy the authorities in Beijing.
Eric E. Schmidt
is the chairman of
Google Inc., the
chairman of the
New America Foundation, was a funder for the New America Foundation, and
a 2008
Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Carnegie
Corporation of New York was a funder for the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the
New America Foundation, and the
Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Andrew Carnegie
was the founder of the
Carnegie
Corporation of New York, and the
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
Norman Pearlstine
is a trustee at the
Carnegie Corporation
of New York, and was a managing editor for the
Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Thomas R.
Pickering was a trustee at the
Carnegie
Corporation of New York, a chairman of review board that investigated the
2012 attack on U.S. consulate in Benghazi,
Libya in 2013, and is a director at the
Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
Jon M. Huntsman
Jr. is the chairman for the
Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), a trustee at the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), and was the
China U.S.
ambassador for the
Barack Obama
administration.
Newton
N. Minow is an honorary trustee at
the
Carnegie Corporation of New York,
a member of the
Commercial Club of
Chicago, and a senior counsel at
Sidley
Austin LLP.
Commercial Club of
Chicago, Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Robert S. Osborne
is a member of the
Commercial Club of
Chicago, and was the EVP & general counsel for
Booz Allen Hamilton.
Booz Allen
Hamilton is a contractor for the
National
Security Agency (NSA), and was a funder for the
Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Edward Snowden
was an employee at
Booz Allen Hamilton,
and leaked information about the
National
Security Agency (NSA).
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the
Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at
Sidley
Austin LLP.
Hong
Kong is a special administrative region for
China.
Ogilvy
Public Relations is a public relations firm for
Hong Kong, and was a funder for the
Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Google
Inc. was a funder for the
Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the
Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the
Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), and the
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the
Open Society Foundations, the co-chair, national finance council
for the
Ready PAC (Ready for Hillary),
and was the chairman for the
Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
Susie Tompkins
Buell was a funder for the
Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and is a national finance council
member for the
Ready PAC (Ready for
Hillary).
Audre Rapoport
was a funder for the
Bill, Hillary &
Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and a contributor for the
Ready PAC (Ready for Hillary).
Jon M. Huntsman
Jr. is the chairman for the
Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), a trustee at the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), and was the
China U.S.
ambassador for the
Barack Obama
administration.
J.
Stapleton Roy was a U.S. ambassador for
China, and is a trustee at the
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
Shirley M.
Tilghman is a trustee at the
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and a director at the
Google Inc.
Google
Inc. was a funder for the
Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Eric E. Schmidt
is the chairman of
Google Inc., the
chairman of the
New America Foundation, was a funder for the New America Foundation, and
a 2008
Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Google's Eric Schmidt talks
about how to run the world (not that he wants to) (PAST RESEARCH)
Wednesday, October
16, 2013
Rachel Kleinfeld
is a senior associate at the
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and was a senior consultant
at
Booz Allen Hamilton.
Booz Allen
Hamilton is a contractor for the
National
Security Agency (NSA), and was a funder for the
Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Edward Snowden
was an employee at
Booz Allen Hamilton,
and leaked information about the
National
Security Agency (NSA).
Richard Wilhelm
was an information warfare director for the
National Security Agency (NSA), is a senior executive adviser for
Booz Allen Hamilton, and a member of
the
Markle Task Force on National
Security in the Information Age.
Margaret A.
Hamburg is a member of the
Markle
Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, and the VP for the
Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director at the
Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank),
was the president of the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank), a director at the American Friends of
Bilderberg (think
tank), and a 2008
Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
David A. Hamburg
is an adviser at the
Nuclear Threat
Initiative (think tank), and the president emeritus for the
Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Carnegie
Corporation of New York was a funder for the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the
New America Foundation, and the
Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Andrew Carnegie
was the founder of the
Carnegie
Corporation of New York, and the
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
Norman Pearlstine
is a trustee at the
Carnegie Corporation
of New York, and was a managing editor for the
Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
