I seem to recall someone predicting that China and other such countries would set up an internal net with strict controls. Good prediction... I wouldn't be surprised to see Cuba recruited to it, for instance, although North Korea doesn't appear likely (too insular). -Allen
______________________________________________________________________ Centura ______________________________________________________________________ China's Xinhua launches business computer network __________________________________________________________________________
Copyright © 1996 Nando.net Copyright © 1996 Reuter Information Service
BEIJING (Oct 21, 1996 10:25 a.m. EDT) - A China-wide computer network launched by a subsidiary of the official news agency Xinhua on Monday will take Chinese businesses online and supply them with news and economic information, company officials said.
The China Wide Web (CWW) created by China Internet Corp would provide Chinese customers with online services in their own language and would give overseas subscribers a window on to the Chinese business world, company chairman Ma Yunsheng said.
I've about concluded that we'll see a Web dominated by two languages - English and Japanese. It's very hard for native speakers of Indo-European languages to learn Japanese, it's very hard for native speakers of Japanese to learn English, and no other such language has a prosperous-enough home country to work. Such internal nets may alter this, however... [...]
In January, Xinhua was appointed the government regulator for foreign suppliers of economic information in China, a role that some analysts say clashes with its involvement in enterprises that supply financial and business data.
[...]
Unlike the open-access Internet, CWW was modelled on internal company networks or "intranets," Edelson said.
"There will be a lot of real-time information available," he said. "I think there's going to be very fast growth from a zero start."
China Internet would enjoy free use of Xinhua's communications network and already had access agreements with the powerful Minstry of Posts and Telecommunications, he said.
Ma said domestic economic information would also be available through Xinhua news services and databases. He declined to say how many clients were expected to subscribe.
Heavily edited domestic economic information...
The Internet is viewed by some Chinese officials as a haven for pornography and political dissent but CWW would likely be a politically correct alternative.
"CWW should reflect Chinese culture," technology officer Wong said, without giving details.
Ah, yes, the old claim of cultural difference to try to justify censorship. So Nazi Germany was due to a cultural difference? ****** MESSAGE DAMAGED IN TRANSIT ******