The shutdown of Nei Han Duan Zi showed how China’s campaign for a clean internet can target entertainment apps, online communities, and user culture far beyond formal political speech.
Baidu founder Robin Li’s comments about privacy triggered public criticism and renewed concern over data protection, platform power, and weak user-rights enforcement in China.
Summary
On March 26, 2018, Li Yanhong, the chairman, and CEO of Baidu, said at the China Development High-Level Forum: “Chinese people are more open and less sensitive to privacy. In many cases, they are willing to exchange their privacy for convenience and efficiency.”, which exposed the shameless company baidu showed little concern for users privacy. Read more
China’s punishment of a VPN seller highlighted growing pressure on tools used to bypass the Great Firewall and access information beyond state censorship.
Summary
In December 2017, Wu Xiangyang, a network engineer in Guangxi, was arrested and sentenced by the Chinese authorities for selling equipment that could break the Chinese government’s notorious Great Firewall a.k.a GFW. It represented China tightening internet curb again in a more extreme way. Read more
China’s revised religious regulations increased pressure on unregistered Christian house churches, expanding local enforcement power over gatherings, preaching, and religious education.