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China Slammed For Censorship
by Winter Casey
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission held a hearing Tuesday to review the ways the Chinese government allegedly controls online and print media content. Morning panelists at the event spoke against what they perceive as a lack of accessible, honest and unfiltered information in China.
"We already know that government agencies like the Central Propaganda Department, the General Administration of Press and Publications, and the Ministry of Information Industry work to censor information in China," Commission Chairman Carolyn Bartholomew said in her opening statement.
"In today's world, where goods, services, people and information move rapidly, restrictions on freedom of speech and a free press have consequences well beyond any one nation's borders," she added.
In the last five years, there has been a "tremendous tightening of controls over both domestic and international press" in China, Jay Henderson of Voice of America said in written testimony.
Xiao Qiang, director of the China Internet Project at the University of California at Berkeley, said in prepared testimony that the Chinese government uses various methods to control information that is either too provocative or challenges the status quo. The tools include technical filters, regulations and administrative rules, newly established Internet police forces, and self-censorship from Web site administrators and users.
He also noted "a rising level of public information and awareness in Chinese society, facilitated by information and communications technologies."
Dan Sutherland, executive editor of Radio Free Asia, said the Chinese government blocks his radio site by name, keywords and topics. He said Chinese authorities "have disrupted some of the phone lines to our call-in programs with repeated calls, apparently computer-driven" and "tracked down some of our sources, interviewees and repeat callers, and harassed or persecuted them despite attempts" by the corporation to protect sources and callers on the air.
"The most significant new phenomenon is the advent and explosion of citizen journalists inside China," Sutherland said. "Nothing may frighten the Chinese government more than scores of citizens on the ground with cell-phone cameras at the ready to capture and disseminate images from protests, demonstrations and other events as they take place -- and which can quickly be recorded by anyone and everyone."
He also said topics that remain under strict control in China include reports on high-level corruption and the income gap. Coverage of actions "by workers and farmers that are occurring by the tens of thousands each year, all over the country, go largely unreported," Sutherland said in written testimony. Other topics viewed as offensive to Chinese authorities include petitions, religion, sections of China's history, dissidents and ethnic minorities.
Speakers noted that what visitors to China see when they visit is not what everyone else within China sees. They said restrictions for Chinese media are not clearly defined.
Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., said in a statement that "China is attempting -- and in many ways succeeding -- to micromanage the messages on television, newspapers, and Internet and even text messages on mobile phones." Six months ago, however, China started allowing foreign journalists to conduct interviews without government approval first, he noted.
"The Chinese government's control and manipulation of information has led to increased ultra-nationalism and hatred of America," said Hastings, a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee. He warned that China is reportedly providing "incredible sums of money to dictators" and that Zimbabwe's president "has turned away from Western food aid that comes with too many strings attached because China is providing aid with no strings attached."
Ashley Esarey, a political science professor at Middlebury College, said the Chinese government used to send facsimiles to the media to provide censorship guidance, but now "directives concerning media content are imparted to ranking media managers or editors during phone conversations -- a move designed to reduce the paper trail that could reveal the specifics of news stories the ruling party seeks to suppress."
U.S., Japan Patent Offices Forge Deal
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Japan Patent Office announced Monday that they have launched a free service to enable them to electronically exchange some patent application documents.
The agreement covers documents that have to be filed when applicants wish to claim earlier application filing dates in one country's patent office based on a prior filing in the other country's office. Under the agreement, the offices now can obtain electronic copies of the documents filed from a records-management system at no cost to applicants.
"Streamlining the patent-application process benefits all users of the system and reduces costs," U.S. PTO Director Jon Dudas said in a statement. "This partnership with our [Japanese Patent Office] colleagues demonstrates how cooperation by and among offices can result in material improvements for innovators."
Survey: Social Networks Impact Music Trends
Social-networking Web sites are impacting the way consumers discover, share and purchase music, according to an annual survey on digital music in the United Kingdom released Monday.
Many users discover music on social-networking sites, and 17 percent of the networks' users said the sites have had a big impact on how they purchase music. The survey, produced by the music consulting firm Entertainment Media Research and the Olswang law firm, also found that many users agree with the statement that "popular community sites have been ruined by advertising and big business."
The survey found that 10 percent of 1,700 online respondents said they are willing to pay to see webcasts of live music performances. But 64 percent said that while they are interested in music webcasts, they are unwilling to pay for them.
The survey also identified a "slowdown in the increase in the population of legal" music downloaders. One way to counteract this problem might be for digital retailers to consider offering consumers variable pricing models.
The research found that 84 percent of consumers agreed that older digital downloads should be less expensive, while 49 percent said they would pay more for new tracks. The research also found that despite efforts to combat online piracy, unauthorized downloading has increased.
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