ng. Blocking the Democracy Times at the Chinese border is kid stuff. The Chinese state accomplishes much more by filtering not just Web content, but the tools that allow the Internet to function: search engines, chat rooms, blogs, and even e-mail. The idea is to make filtering a basic fact of the Web. And filtering a tool like a search engine has the benefit of subtlety, because to most people searches will feel free even when they’re not. How many of us can tell when something goes missing in a Google result? […]
Techno-optimists like Kristof nonetheless take it as an article of faith that all of China’s controls are destined to fail. They echo the hacker’s creed—if a system can be beaten it will, so control of information is impossible. They point out that when chat rooms are closely monitored, people start talking about “cabbages” when they mean “democracy.” As one blogger wrote recently, “No democratic movement in the history of mankind has ever stalled just because the word ‘democracy’ could not be uttered.” But these arguments ignore a fundamental principle in legal theory: A law does not need to be perfect to be effective. If you’re talking about carrots and cabbages instead of multiparty elections, the Communist Party has already won. Ordinary Chinese won’t have any idea of what you’re talking about. Competing discussion threads that rant against the Japanese, on the other hand, will continue to enjoy mass appeal.
China’s long-term vision is clear: an Internet that feels free and acts as an engine of economic progress yet in no way threatens the Communist Party’s monopoly on power. With every passing day the Chinese Internet reflects that vision more closely. It portends a future for the Web that we’re only beginning to understand—one in which powerful countries refashion the global network to suit themselves.
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