Players going to China have to do without Wikipedia--LA Times

"...the Chinese government is striking back. A harsh new law that took effect Friday forbids any content "which damages China's unity and sovereignty; harms ethnic solidarity; promotes superstition; portrays violence, pornography, gambling or terrorism; violates privacy; damages China's culture or traditions." More damaging still is a requirement that firms distributing online video or audio be state-owned. If enforced to the letter, the law could kill the most vibrant media in China today.

• Among the videos that made it onto the Chinese Internet, albeit briefly, was one last year that showed American college students unfurling a "Free Tibet" banner on Mt. Everest.

Other videos were shot by so-called "citizen journalists" with no tools other than cellphones or cheap digital cameras. Images of students rioting in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou in June 2006 that were banned from the official media quickly made it onto the Internet. A pyramid scheme in which peasants were defrauded of their savings through investments in ant farms became public in part because of images of protests that were posted on 56.com, another Chinese site.

• All of the videos were removed from the online sites within hours, but not before they'd been viewed by tens of thousands of people.

It doesn't take much to offend China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, which, along with the Ministry of Information Industry, regulates the Internet. Besides the obvious taboos, the censors are acutely sensitive to the slightest affront to China's carefully controlled image.

• Many of the videos that were removed from Chinese sites are now available on YouTube. Because its servers are not located in China, YouTube will not be directly affected by the new law. But China can block access through what is often called the "Great Chinese Firewall," which restricts people inside the country from accessing certain foreign sites.

Access to YouTube was cut off for two weeks during the 17th Communist Party Congress in October, and the popular Wikipedia site remains off-limits. However, savvy online users can get around the content filters with proxy servers and specially designed Web browsers."

• From LA Times article by Barbara Demick, "China Cracks Down on Irreverent Websites," 2/5/08

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