The Chinese likely lifted the ban on Wikipedia not to look more permissive in the eyes of the world, but to give its citizens access to more information that will give them an edge in business, said Julien Pain, who runs the Internet Freedom Desk at watchdog group Reporters Without Borders.
 After a yearlong ban on Wikipedia, China lifted the block to allow Internet users in the country to access the online encyclopedia, although some pages are still inaccessible.The Ministry of Information has not commented on whether the blocked pages are a result of technical problems or because they contain information the government considers objectionable.Beijing blocked access to both the English and Chinese versions of Wikipedia in October 2005, citing concern over entries that discussed political turmoil over China-controlled countries Tibet and Taiwan.Although Wikipedia is now accessible through most of China, some reports have surfaced that the site is still completely blocked in parts of the country.Block and Tackle Wikipedia is far from being the only site that has had content blocked from Chinese Internet users.The communist country employs several sophisticated filters and detection software to monitor communication for sensitive words and potential dissident discussions.China has even banned video games that depict Tibet and Taiwan as independent countries. Wait and See The Chinese likely lifted the block not to look more permissive in the eyes of the world, but to give its citizens access to more information that will give them an edge in business, said Julien Pain, who runs the Internet Freedom Desk at watchdog group Reporters Without Borders.”The Chinese aren’t very receptive to foreign pressure, so they’re not doing this to look good,” he said. “But they do care about their economy, and this type of information is important for Internet users there.”China knows it cannot keep its Internet separate from the rest of the world, Pain added, but it remains to be seen whether widespread use of Wikipedia will cause a renewed ban.”Now we need to wait and see what will happen next, especially because their filters, which block pages based on keywords they consider subversive, are not 100 percent effective,” he said.The small percentage of content that made it through the filters are probably what sparked the Wikipedia ban in the first place, Pain noted. “It wouldn’t be surprising if they turn around and increase their censorship, or find out about which Wikipedia pages are being accessed the most so they can determine if there’s dissident content,” said Pain. |
