-------- Original Message -------- Subject: CHINA : Authorities declare war on unregistered websites and blogs (+FR) Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 18:21:49 +0200 From: RSF.Internet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet under surveillance 6 June 2005 CHINA *Authorities declare war on unregistered websites and blogs* * *Reporters Without Borders voiced alarm today at the Chinese government's announced intention to close down all China-based websites and blogs that are not officially registered. The plan is all the more worrying as the government has also revealed that it has a new system for monitoring sites in real time and spotting those that fail to comply. "The Chinese authorities use this type of announcement above all to intimidate website operators and bloggers," the press freedom organisation said. "The authorities also hope to push the most outspoken online sites to migrate abroad where they will become inaccessible to those inside China because of the Chinese filtering systems." Reporters Without Borders added: "Those who continue to publish under their real names on sites hosted in China will either have to avoid political subjects or just relay the Communist Party's propaganda. This decision will enable those in power to control online news and information much more effectively." The new initiative was announced in a decree issued by the ministry for the information industry (MII) on 20 March, which said all China-based websites - commercial or otherwise - would have to register by 30 June, giving the complete identity of the persons responsible for the sites. According to the authorities, the aim is to control information that "endanger the country." According to official figures, about 75 per cent of Chinese sites have already complied with the new procedure. The Russian news agency/ Interfax/ reported that the ministry subsequently announced that a new system called "Night Crawler" (Pa Chong, in Chinese) that allows the authorities to locate and block unregistered sites would get under away at the start of June. At the request of the authorities, the Telecom operators that host the biggest Chinese news portals informed their users that this procedure is obligatory. In May, many bloggers received e-mail messages telling them to register to avoid their blogs being declared illegal. A China-based blogger told Reporters Without Borders on condition of anonymity that the Shanghai police recently rendered his website inaccessible because it had not been registered. He then phoned the MII to ask what he had to do in order to register, and was told that in his case it was "not worth bothering" because "there was no chance of an independent blog getting permission to publish." -------------------------------------------- *CHINE La chasse aux sites et aux blogs non d�clar�s a commenc� *Reporters sans fronti�res s'inqui�te de la volont� affich�e par les autorit�s chinoises de fermer tous les sites et weblogs bas�s en Chine qui ne se seraient pas inscrits sur les registres officiels. Cette d�cision est d'autant plus pr�occupante que P�kin a par ailleurs annonc� qu'il disposait d'un nouveau syst�me pour surveiller en temps r�el les sites enregistr�s et rep�rer ceux qui refusent de se plier � cette proc�dure. "Par ce type d'annonce, les autorit�s chinoises cherchent avant tout � intimider les responsables de site et les webloggers. Les autorit�s souhaitent �galement pousser les publications les plus libres de ton � migrer vers l'�tranger, o� elles seront rendues inaccessibles par les syst�mes de filtrages. Quant � ceux qui continueront de publier, sous leur vrai nom, sur des sites h�berg�s en Chine, ils n'auront d'autre alternative que d'�viter les sujets politiques, ou de relayer la propagande du parti unique. Cette d�cision devrait permettre au pouvoir de contr�ler de mani�re encore plus efficace l'information en ligne", a d�plor� l'organisation. Le minist�re de l'Industrie de l'Information (MII) a publi�, le 20 mars, un d�cret imposant � tous les sites Webs h�berg�s en Chine, commerciaux ou non, de s'inscrire sur ses registres avant le 30 juin prochain, en indiquant l'identit� compl�te des responsables de publication. Officiellement, cette mesure a pour objectif de contr�ler les informations qui "mettent en danger le pays". Selon des chiffres officiels, pr�s de 75 % des sites chinois se seraient d�j� pli�s � cette proc�dure. D'apr�s l'agence de presse russe/ Interfax/, le minist�re aurait ensuite annonc�, d�but juin, le lancement d'un nouveau syst�me, appel� "Night crawler" (pa chong en chinois), permettant de localiser et de bloquer l'acc�s aux sites ne s'�tant pas enregistr�s. Les op�rateurs de t�l�coms, les h�bergeurs et les grands portails d'information chinois ont �t� mis � contribution par les autorit�s pour rappeler � leurs utilisateurs que cette proc�dure �tait obligatoire. En mai, de nombreux webloggers ont ainsi re�u un e-mail leur intimant de s'enregistrer, faute de quoi leur blog serait d�clar� ill�gal. Un blogger bas� en Chine a expliqu� � Reporters sans fronti�res, sous le couvert de l'anonymat, que son site avait r�cemment �t� rendu inaccessible par la police de Shanghai pour d�faut d'enregistrement. Lorsqu'il a t�l�phon� au MII pour s'informer sur la marche � suivre pour r�gulariser sa situation, on lui a r�pondu que, dans son cas, il n'�tait de toute fa�on "pas la peine" de s'enregistrer, car "un blog ind�pendant n'avait aucune chance d'obtenir l'autorisation de publier". -- Julien Pain Bureau Internet et libert�s / Internet Freedom desk ___________________________________________ Reporters sans fronti�res / Reporters Without Borders TEL: ++ 33 (0) 1 44 83 84 71 FAX: ++ 33 (0) 1 45 23 11 51 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.internet.rsf.org _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
