U.S. State Dept criticizes Chinese net-censorship

[Declan B. McCullagh]

The U.S. State Department's Human Rights Report for 1995 talks about 
restrictions on new media in China, pointing out that Internet access is 
now limited.

How ironic that the U.S. Government would report that "government limits
on Internet access" will harm the medium's growth -- while our _own_
government is imposing similarly suffocating regulations domestically. 

I draw small comfort from the fact that, as censors, we're not quite as
accomplished as those in China or Zambia: 
   http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~declan/zambia/
   http://fight-censorship.dementia.org/top/

-Declan

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U.S. State Department Human Rights Report
gopher://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/0F-1%3A23308%3AChina

 In many respects, Chinese society continued to open up:  greater
 disposable income, looser ideological controls, and freer access to
 outside sources of information have led to greater room for individual
 choice, more diversity in cultural life, and increased media reporting. 
 Although the sale and use of satellite dishes are tightly regulated,
 satellite television broadcasts are widely available, particularly in  
 coastal areas.  Telephone and facsimile communication is also           
 extensively used.  In many cities, the introduction of commercial
 Internet service promoted access to international sources of             
 information.  At year's end, however, new government limits on Internet
 access threatened to halt the growth of Internet use.  In addition, new
 controls on reporting economic information introduced doubts about the
 Government's commitment to freedom of information.  Government control  
 of news media generally continues to depend on self-censorship to       
 regulate political and social content, but the authorities also         
 consistently penalize those who exceed the permissable. 

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