Obama acts on FAC petition against China’s “Great Firewall”

October 19, 2011—The Obama administration on Wednesday said that, using World Trade Organization rules, it was calling on the government of China to answer detailed questions about its censorship of the internet–in particular, the blocking of websites of US-based businesses seeking to tap the vast Chinese consumer market. The announcement, which grows out of an [...]

As China Internet Controls Increase, Freedom House Calls for Urgent International Response

The recent interruption of four major micro-blog services in China further highlights the Communist Party’s intent to control the internet and ‘plug holes’ where political discussions it cannot control take place, according to Freedom House. News/Press Release July 15, 2010 By Freedom House, Washington In recent days, reports have emerged of growing restrictions on internet [...]

China accepts WTO ruling on entertainment goods

News July 14, 2010 By Reuters GENEVA– China has agreed to open up its market for entertainment goods by March 19 next year in line with a World Trade Organization ruling, China and the United States said on Wednesday. The United States had challenged China’s barriers to imports and distribution of books, music, films and [...]

Obama should back up Google with more than rhetoric: The US should challenge China’s “firewall” before the WTO.

PETER SCHEER—The US government is not powerless to influence China’s policies for censoring the internet. As Google has taken extraordinary steps–bordering on corporate civil disobedience–to challenge China’s stranglehold on the flow of information to and among its people, the Obama administration has acted as though its hands were tied. In fact, however, the administration does [...]

2009 a bad year for free speech online

2009 was not a good year for free speech online as China and Iraq set a dismal standard. Even democratic countries considered ways to censor online expression. -DB MediaShift January 11, 2010 By Clothilde Le Coz 2009 was an unprecedented year for online repression. For the first time since the Internet emerged as a tool [...]

Make no mistake, China’s censorship of the internet is a crime against liberty on a mass scale. Still, American firms can’t just steer clear of the world’s biggest market. What to do?

Make no mistake, China’s censorship of the internet is a crime against liberty on a mass scale. Still, American firms can’t just steer clear of the world’s biggest market. What to do? By Peter Scheer A milestone of sorts was passed in the first quarter of this year when China blew past the United States [...]