“We’ve seen for a long time the Internet being used to expose corruption, but what’s been interesting in the recent few weeks, which is maybe a sort of counter current to these new crackdowns on the Internet, is that a lot of this has been followed up.”
Mr. Clark says reports of sexual or financial wrongdoing have led to the ouster of several government officials.
“We’ve seen a top down anti-corruption drive and so where previously we may have seen campaigns running for a couple of months, now we’ve seen within days, certain officials losing their posts and this is all driven by and fueled by the Internet. ”
The new Internet regulations come at the same time as a Chinese government campaign against virtual private networks, or VPNs. Web users use VPNs to get around what has been called China’s “Great Firewall.” But some reports say the government is increasing its effort to block VPNs.
Mr. Clark says there is often an increase in Internet censorship during sensitive events. He noted the recent 18th Communist Party Congress, which elected China’s new leaders. He said these periods of increased control are normally followed by reduced enforcement.
“We haven’t seen that in this case, since the Party Congress we see increased measures, not lessened. So the big question I would say, is when we get to the spring, when the new leadership takes up their formal positions in the government, is this like the new normal?”
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25