Information/Technology - 75. page

China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC) recently shut down 55 websites that “engage in illegal online promotions.” The operation was based on public tip-offs sent to the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Centre (CIIRC), a self-claimed non-governmental organization that lists “receiving public reports and complaints about illegal and harmful information on the Internet within the border of China” as one of its key functions. 

On May 24, 2011, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China issued a release indicating that, from January to April, the net increase in China’s mobile phone accounts was 41.386 million, bringing the total number of mobile phone accounts to 900.389 million. Among them, 3G accounts increased by 20.521 million, reaching 67.572 million.

Source: Xinhua, May 24, 2011.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-05/24/c _121452959.htm 

BBC Chinese News reported that, on May 18, 2011, eight New York residents filed a lawsuit against the Chinese government and China’s biggest search engine vendor Baidu for blocking pro-democracy Internet content. The suit asks for US$16 million in damages. It is believed that this is the first time a lawsuit against a company has also included the Chinese government. Chinese spokesperson Jiang Yu commented on the lawsuit, saying that the Chinese government follows worldwide common rules to manage the Internet and foreign courts do not have jurisdiction over this matter. Baidu, a NASDAQ-100 index company, proactively filters “sensitive words” based on the Chinese government’s requirements. China also blocks popular websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Source: BBC Chinese, May 19, 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chinese_news/2011/05/110519_baidu_lawsuit.shtml

An article appearing in the news section of China.com states that the U.S. government employs technical methods to monitor and control Internet contents in the areas of child protection, national security, intellectual property, and computer security. According to the Internet Protection Act for Minors, the U.S. government exerts financial pressure on public schools and public libraries to force them all to filter their contents. The U.S. government also actively uses Internet blocking and wiretapping technologies to intercept and control international and domestic Internet communications in the name of national security. The Bush administration actively introduced laws to press content providers into cooperating. The article concludes that “the U.S. has the most perfect Internet monitoring and control system in the world.”

Source: China.com, May 1, 2011
http://news.china.com.cn/txt/2011-05/01/content_22472133.htm

On April 10, 2011, Xinhua reported  that the Xichang Satellite Launch Center located in Sichuan Province sent its eighth navigation satellite into outer space for the Chinese global positioning system. The Launch Center has conducted 10 launch missions so far this year, and demonstrated the capability of accomplishing “high intensity tasks.” The Center recently finished the reconstruction of an infrastructure completely centered on IP-based technologies (IP: Internet Protocol). The Center’s local network now supports a 100 mbps data transfer rate, and it has established a central-command-focused integrated information platform.

Source: Xinhua, April 10, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-04/10/c_121286862.htm

On April 13, 2011, the very first military biochip research center was established at the No. 211 PLA Military Hospital. Accordingly to Jia Danbin, director of the hospital, the National Development and Reform Commission through the National Engineering Research Center for Beijing Biochip Technology (NERCBBT) approved the center. It will provide patients with tests on hereditary hearing loss, anti-depressants, glyco-chains of immunoglobulin and autoimmunity, and the hepatitis B virus. It will also provide individualized molecular targeted cancer therapy plans and other research functions.

Source: Xinhua, April 13, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-04/13/c_13827451.htm

Qiushi Journal, a bi-weekly magazine published by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, recently republished an article from People’s Daily on the phenomenon of Internet culture. According to the author, theoretical studies on this culture are far behind the reality of its rapid development. The article focused on the fastest growing portion of the domestic Internet market – online gaming – saying that the growth of the gaming industry should be limited. The author dismissed the view that Internet culture represents only a “virtual” world. He suggested that the virtual world is obviously interacting with the real world and concluded that, to a certain degree, “managing the virtual society amounts to managing the real one.” The author also expressed the belief that Internet-based enterprises lack deep cultural resources and called for help from the traditional culture industry. The article ended with the observation that the Internet culture is merging into mainstream Chinese culture.

Source: Qiushi Journal, April 5, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/wh/sxdl/201104/t20110405_75256.htm

On March 31, 2011, China’s State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) issued a public notice regarding the production of TV series. The notice criticized some submitted TV series as having “random compilations of fairy tales” and even promoting “superstition, fatalism and reincarnation.” The notice reminds all the producers that the 2004 SARFT regulations on TV production and broadcasting remain in effect. “At the beginning of their work, organizations involved in the production of such TV series must carefully consider the market risks so as to avoid any blind investment.”

Source: China News, April 2, 2011
http://www.chinanews.com/cul/2011/04-02/2948839.shtml