Tightening the Internet Strings Even More?

image taken from pixabay.com

The Chinese government has passed a new round legislation to increase its protection of national security. This new law enables the government to monitor or control anything the government deems could threaten security, and this most definitely includes the internet and cyber monitoring. A Beijing lawyer claimed that the law was more of an ideological statement rather than a law that will be regularly used and enforced. However, if I were to hazard a guess, I think that this law will in the future be used as a justification for more strict media and news censorship.

But again, I will restate that I believe this is the Chinese government's right to control what goes on in their own country. In addition, I don't think it is fair of me as an American to fully critique China when America has also passed sweeping "security legislation" in the past than enable the government to monitor calls, internet usage, etc, if they thought it was a potential risk to the country after 9/11.

I saw this article on my BBC alert page, so I sent the link to my mother in China thinking it would be blocked. Surprisingly, it wasn't. She was able to open the story and read it. She said that "I was surprised that this news story wasn't more buried". A sentiment I agree with. One thing that I don't think anyone can rationally argue is that the Chinese government is anything but transparent about their censorship and blocking.  I applaud the government for being open about their censorship, despite the fact that it frequently brings the country under the disapproval of the international community. Regardless of this, the Chinese government still acts how it sees fit. An admirable trait.


Here is a BBC link to the news story and also my source for the information in this article:
BBC. China. July 1, 2015. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-33340322