Internet Filtering in China in 2004 2005 

but the top level domain of these URLs was accessible, despite the fact that the source of content 

appeared consistent across the domain   suggesting that filtering may be conducted at a finer level in 

China than in the other countries that we have studied closely.  Moreover, China's Internet filtering 

appears to have grown more refined, sophisticated, and targeted during the years of ONI's testing. 

China's intricate technical filtering regime is buttressed by an equally complex series of laws and 

regulations that control the access to and publication of material online.  While no single statute 

specifically describes the manner in which the state will carry out its filtering regime, a broad range of 

laws   including media regulation, protections of  state secrets,  controls on Internet service providers 

and Internet content providers, laws specific to cybercafes, and so forth   provide a patchwork series of 

rationales and, in sum, massive legal support for filtering by the state.  The rights afforded to citizens as 

protection against filtering and surveillance, such as a limited privacy right in the Chinese Constitution, 

that otherwise might provide a counter balance against state action on filtering and surveillance, are not 

clearly stated and are likely considered by the state to be inapplicable in this context. 

China operates the most extensive, technologically sophisticated, and broad reaching system of 

Internet filtering in the world.  The implications of this distorted on line information environment for 

China's users are profound, and disturbing. 

2. P

OLITICA L

, T

ECHNICA L

, 

A ND 

L

EGA L 

C

ONT EXT IN 

C

HINA

A. Sensitive / Controversial Topics for Media Coverage 

In China, a wide range of topics are considered sensitive or controversial by the government.  

Media are heavily controlled and journalists are frequently punished for publishing information or stating 

positions that deviate from official Communist Party doctrine.

2

  Organized dissent and criticism of the 

Communist Party are not tolerated.

3

  Coverage of any group that can organize large numbers of people is 

considered threatening.  The Falun Gong spiritual movement, in particular, has been targeted for 

repression in recent years.

4

In general, China attempts to suppress publication of information related to  subversive  political 

movements and controversial state actions, including the Tiananmen Square uprising,

5

 support for a free 

Tibet,

6

 the Falun Gong spiritual movement,

7

 criticism of China's human rights and social justice records,

8

2

 He Qinglian, Media Control in China, Nov. 4, 2004, at http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/8991. 

3

 He, Media Control in China. 

4

 Economist Intelligence Unit, Country Profile 2005: China at 18. 

5

 Human Rights Watch, World Report 2005: China, January 2005, at 

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/01/13/china9809.htm. 

6

 Jonathan Zittrain & Benjamin Edelman, Internet Filtering in China, IEEE Internet Computing, March/April 2003, 

available at http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/ public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN011043.pdf. 

7

 Zittrain & Edelman, Internet Filtering in China. 

4