Geekonomics
World tells geek how to curve & geek tells world how it can move.
by Nicholas Aaron Khoo, Singapore
Subscribe to this blog
Blogs have crippled almost all Internet businesses in China?
Sep 8, 2007 20:32A few days ago, I received some "insider news" that there was a government lockdown in one of the biggest data centers in China.
The particular incident I received information about was that the Government had found anti-political content in one of the blogs and proceeded to shut down the entire data center where the server for that site is located.
Talk about drastic measures!
I thought it was an isolated incident, until I read Rick(y) Martin's blog about how businesses are being affected and decided to find out more for myself. So I did some quick research and found this disturbing report. Let me summarize/highlight some of the key points here (JUST in case that site gets shut down/blocked, too)
"Authorities in major cities across China have moved to close down large swathes of the Internet, targeting 'interactive' sites ahead of the Communist Party congress in mid-October, according to netizens, government Web sites, and service providers."
"Participatory Web sites, forums, and blogging platforms came under strict new rules last week. But in an unprecedented move, the authorities have begun switching off entire Internet data centers (IDCs), which are home to thousands of servers"
"Xiamen-based Lanmang Internet Co. which operates an IDC in the southern port city of Shantou, Guangdong province, said more than 1,000 of its communication networks had been disconnected Aug. 28 after alleged 'illegal' content was posted on some blogs it hosted."
"The Shantou Telecommunications Department is in the process of clearing some illegal information on the blogs. They found some illegal information on Lanmang, and they are investigating the incident now. It wasn’t the police department who put restrictions on the company"
"Of the 10,000 affected Web sites, many of them are government and business Web sites"
"Zitian had been told by Internet regulatory officials that the Web sites wouldn’t be re-opened until after the 17th Party Congress."
"We’d rather wrongly close 1,000 Web sites than let a single Web site post illegal information."
"By 8:10 p.m. on Sept. 3, the disaster had arrived at the Shanghai’s Waigaoqiao IDC, where more than 30 computers were switched off, affecting more than 20 servers. The number of servers being closed continued to rise. Everyone was trying to second-guess whether Shanghai would also end up with the entire IDC shut down."
"Internet businesses were left angry, bewildered, and out of pocket ."
"If this continues, I guess the total number of shut-down sites may quickly be 1 million."
"Anyone wishing to start blogging might have to switch to a blogging service provider that had signed a self-discipline pact with the authorities"
"China's Internet authorities in recent days have issued a new set of rules aimed at curbing the spread of “interactive” Internet sites such as bulletin boards (BBS), chat rooms, blogs, and discussion forums."
I personally think that while censorship is not new in China, this is a major stumbling block for the development of Web 2.0 and online social media in the Mainland, although it is still too early to tell. And this, in turn, affects investments and growth of Internet businesses in one of the biggest and fastest-growing online markets. More so, blogs have now effectively and indirectly crippled all other Internet businesses and sites in China! Talk about responsibility!
But should the responsibility rest on the bloggers since it's the China Government who has decided to make such a drastic move? It does bring to mind the question about responsible "citizen journalism" which has now brought about such a drastic impact on the entire Web industry in China. Of course, with every problem and failure comes new opportunities. In time to come, I'm sure we'll see how some Chinese technoprenuers will be able to turn this around to their advantage.
While I'm gonna research and observe more, if you want really good stuff about the China online scene, you should head on down to Rick(y) Martin's site on CNET Asia here.
Oh! BTW, I managed to pop by the Games Convention Asia this weekend, the Asian debut of Games Convention in Germany which is three times the size of E3 and the biggest gaming show in the world rivaling the Tokyo Game Show.
I plan to pop by again tomorrow and will give you that report soon!
- Talkback
-
I guess it depends on the severity of the item that the blogger wrote about.
If for example, the blogger found evidence that the entire yellow river is laden with lead, therefore all items ever manufactured in history of china must be recalled, they would want to hiccup the delivery of the news and get themselves ready for the impending international PR disaster.
Sep 08, 2007 22:17
@Precious - well I guess we'll never know now!
Sep 11, 2007 16:04
About Nicholas Aaron Khoo
Nicknamed "Gadget Boy" by friends at age 18 because he used to scribble Grafitti on a PalmPilot faster than most would type, Nicholas Aaron Khoo is web developer turned technopreneur and Singapore tech blogger who also pretends to do strategic advisory for tech startups and 'un'Fortune 500s (when he's not pretending to be the gadget-loaded Batman). A digital nomad, his tech interests range from gadgets, games, tech trends, social media, security, and just about anything that runs on 1s and 0s. See his industry affiliations here.
Twitter . Contact Nic
Recent Comments
Most Discussed
January
