On the heels of the release of a White Paper outlining the internet rights of Chinese citizens - zealously titled "Guaranteeing Citizens Freedom of Speech on the Internet"  - the Chinese government is instituting strict regulations that extend its internet surveillance controls. 

Across China, regulations now mandate that Internet cafes require smart ID cards for internet access and install surveillance cameras accessible by provincial government authorities monitoring their customers.  Businesses that do not comply with these terms are threatened with fines and other punishments. 

In the past year the Chinese government has gone to some lengths to limit public opinion of dissent online by limiting Internet access via Internet cafes.  But as always, behind such censorship initiatives - ostensibly intended to protect children from pornography and guide them in "wholesome and correct" Internet usage - lurks the specter of a more disturbing, Orwellian exercise of control over Chinese netizens seeking public forums. 

So take a seat in an Internet cafe in Sichuan.  After we check to make sure your face matches your ID card, don't forget to swipe it so we have record of your patronage.  Don't mind the cameras, please, just go about your business, accessing the free and open internet safely.  Keep in mind that you may be traced and punished for letting loose opinions which include any of the following: "divulging state secrets," "subverting state power," "jeopardizing national unification," "damaging state honor and interests," "jeopardizing ethnic unity" or "state religious policy," (Read more after the jump!)

With new polls underscoring the continuation of a long-standing lack of basic knowledge   between the populations of two of the world’s biggest powers, it seems only appropriate to lay out a few basic facts to ground any ensuing argument.  As of May 1^st of this year, there are over 404 million internet users in the People’s Republic of China, despite the limitations to access imposed on the Xinjiang/East Turkestan region, giving China the largest online population of any country.  Within a year of the release of Charter 08, a vocal call for democracy and governmental reform signed by 300 mainland Chinese intellectuals, 70 of the signatories had been detained or interrogated. 

I spend a lot of time reading about China on the Internet. It's my job, but even before it was my job it was a very serious hobby. I also like to look through readers' comments. Articles on China often hit a nerve with readers, Chinese and American (or otherwise) alike, and generate fierce debates, sometimes hundreds of comments even on a relatively brief article. But in the past few years these debates have been hijacked by the 五毛党(wu mao dang), or 50 Cent Party. They are the legion of young Chinese Internet users (some estimate there are 280,000 of them) who are paid 50 mao (roughly 7 cents) to post comments on blogs, news articles, bulletin boards, etc. that are pro-Communist Party, essentially to drown out critical voices. While they are most active on Chinese-language sites, the 50 Cent Party has found its way onto message boards, blogs and other forums in Western media, too, even spearheading the campaign against CNN's Jack Cafferty for calling the leadership in Beijing a bunch of "goons and thugs." David Bandurski wrote a great article in the Far Eastern Economic Review last year about this phenomenon.

I take issue with the 50 Cent Party for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that it intimidates Chinese netizens into witholding their true opinions (not only do they drown out dissenting voices, the 50 Cent Party report back to their Communist Party bosses on exactly who is making the critical comments). But what is most frustrating for me personally is the way the 50 Cent Party has made genuine debate online about China virtually impossible. First of all, the tactics of the 50 Cent Party are tried and true debate-killers -- "You can't talk, America had slavery" and the like -- trying to shift the focus of the debate away from the issue at hand and questioning anyone's right to even discuss China outside of China. What's worse, I find myself assuming that any pro-government comment is paid for by the Communist Party, thus dismissing what could in fact be genuine comments that deserve a closer look. The world -- and China -- would benefit from honest, rigorous debate about Chinese government policy and its impact beyond its borders. But the 50 Cent Party is rendering this impossible. (Read more)