Does China Control Access To The Internet Within Its Borders?

China’s Internet Is Freer Than You Think -- Brendon Hong, Daily Beast

China takes great pains to regulate Internet users within its border, but civil unrest remains largely uncensored—and helps the government gauge public sentiment.

HONG KONG—Last year, I met a Chinese graduate student on a tour of the northeastern United States before his first day at Harvard. At the time, news about the purge of Bo Xilai, a princeling and member of China’s Central Politburo, was still making waves in China. Over chilled beers, he shared a few observations: “Everybody is talking about Bo Xilai. Old people are talking about him as they play cards or mahjong. Families are talking about him at the dinner table. Young people are blogging about him. In the last case, that’s where the interesting things happen.”

He was referring to web censorship behind the Great Firewall. Many of his friends who were still in China had Weibo accounts, and could flick out short messages just as anyone anywhere else could tweet. One friend in particular was from Chongqing, Bo’s former stronghold and the epicenter of his political influence. That user's posts were being wiped completely from existence.

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My Comment: The censors in China are starting to realize that they cannot block the internet .... and by denying access to popular social media platforms like Facebook, twitter, and Reddit .... only creates anger and frustration among everyone. My prediction .... I expect countries like China to employ censorship strategies like this .... Iran expands 'smart' Internet censorship (Reuters).

On a personal note .... when I visit my friends in China, I usually stay at the family home of someone who use to be the premier of a major province in that country. I have no problems accessing any web site that I want when I am staying there .... but when I go somewhere elsewhere in China .... I do have problems. So it appears that within China itself .... when it comes to the internet the elite have a different set of rules from everyone else.