Internet Filtering in China in 2004 2005 

development.  The core of China s Internet relies on Cisco technology; Cisco specifically implemented the 

backbone networks for ChinaNet

29

 and CERNet

30

, China s nation wide educational network.  Cisco s 

involvement continues to this day with the company's role in the development of China s  Next 

Generation Network,  known as CN2.

31

Activists and human rights organizations have for years charged Cisco and other Western 

corporations with actively assisting China in developing censorship and surveillance systems.

32

  For 

example, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Reporters Sans Frontieres have consistently 

highlighted the issues of corporate responsibility and Internet freedom raised by China's use of Western 

technologies.  These groups allege that Western corporations have facilitated the construction of China's 

censorship and surveillance infrastructure, and that they may even be involved in the system's ongoing 

maintenance and operations.

33

Companies such as Microsoft and Cisco respond to these charges by suggesting that they simply 

sell the technology to China; thus, they cannot and should not control how their customers use what they 

have bought.

34

  However, at least one whistleblower has stated that Cisco specifically designed and 

developed a special router/firewall box for China.

35

In addition, the technologies that Cisco sold to China for backbone routing purposes    Cisco 

12000 series routers    have packet filtering capability, allowing the routers to filter bi directionally at the 

packet level and to implement up to 750,000 different filtering rules.

36

  These systems are designed to 

combat various Internet attacks, including Denial of Service (DoS) attacks and the spread of worms and 

viruses.  For example, to combat the Code Red worm, Cisco released instructions on how to configure 

their routers' Access Control Lists to block the spread of the worm.

37

  These same techniques can be 

applied to block political content.  The particular technique described in Cisco's Code Red document 

29

 Cisco Systems, Cisco Systems to be Key Supplier for Building China s Nation Wide IP Backbone, Oct. 14, 1998, 

available at http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/fspnisapid67e.html. 

30

 Cisco Systems, CERNET Strengthens Cooperation with Cisco Systems with Major Upgrade of National Backbone 

Network, Sept. 2, 1998, at http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/fspnisapia57d.html. 

31

 Cisco Systems, Cisco Selected to Build Backbone and Premium Business Network for China Telecom s IP Next 

Generation Network, Nov. 11, 2004, at http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2004/prod_111104.html. 

32

 Greg Walton, China s Golden Shield: Corporations and the Development of Surveillance Technology in the 

People s Republic of China, available at 

http://www.ichrdd.ca/english/commdoc/publications/globalization/goldenShieldEng.html. 

33

 See, e.g., Amnesty International, People's Republic of China: Controls tighten as Internet activism grows, Jan. 28, 

2004, at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA170012004; Human Rights Watch, China Tightens Internet 

Controls, Aug. 1, 2001, at http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/08/china 0801.htm; Reporters Sans Frontieres, Internet 

Under Surveillance: China, June 22, 2004, at http://www.rsf.org/print.php3?id_article=10749; Rights & Democracy 

(International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development), Human Rights at Risk on the Cyber 

battlefield: The Sale of Security & Surveillance Technology to China, at http://www.dd 

rd.ca//english/commdoc/publications/globalization/surveillancetechChina/briefingpaper.htm. 

34

 Laura Rohde, Companies defend against Chinese censorship charge, IDG News Service, Dec. 2, 2002, at 

http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2002/1202china.html. 

35

 Ethan Gutmann, Who Lost China s Internet?, The Weekly Standard, Feb. 15, 2002, available at  

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=922. 

36

 Cisco Systems, Using Cisco 12000 Series IP Services Engine (ISE) Architecture to Enable the High Speed 

Provider Edge, Oct. 1, 2001, at http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/pd/rt/12000/prodlit/werr_wp.htm. 

37

 Cisco Systems, Using Network Based Application Recognition and ACLs for Blocking the  Code Red  Worm, at 

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/63/nbar_acl_codered.shtml (last updated Apr. 6, 2005 

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