China has further tightened internet controls by requiring anyone that wants to set up a website to meet with regulators and submit ID documents (identity cards and photos of themselves). They have to do this before their sites can be registered. The technology ministry said these new measures were designed to tackle online pornography (the go-to justification for online censorship), but critics say it's increased government censorship.
This decision by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology effectively lifted the freeze that was introduced in December -- during which no new individual websites could be registered. The freeze had been imposed by the state-sanctioned group which registers domain names, after complaints by state media (complaints by state media, huh. I'm sure that's an objective source) that not enough was being done to screen websites for pornography. The Chinese authorities have already launched a number of campaigns against online pornography -- the government has said that thousands of people were detained last year alone (though considering the source is the government, the number of people detained is probably higher).
As a result of these internet controls, a number of websites are now being registered overseas in order to avoid controls. The BBC's reporter in Beijing said that despite the extensive censorship, "the internet remains a surprisingly vibrant and critical environment in China." The internet has been used to highlight cases of injustice and to embarrass corrupt officials. He added that China's internet users often stay one step ahead of the government controls. (Full Story)
Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, made a decree that grants him total control over Afghanistan's Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC). He will have the power to appoint all five member of the commission. The ECC is the group that exposed massive fraud in last year's presidential election. The commission previously had three foreign experts who were appointed by the UN. It was the ECC's Canadian chairman and his two non-Afghan colleagues that led demands for an inquiry into the election due to a suspicion of ballot-stuffing. The commission ended up discounting more than one million votes for Karzai, and he finally agreed to a run-off election. However, days before the run-off vote was to happen, the plans were scrapped. Officials cited a need to avert further political damage to the country and because there was a fear that there would be Taliban violence just like there was during the first round of voting. Karzai was made president and his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, had earlier pulled out of the run-off because he said it would not be a free or fair election. Karzai and other Afghans were unhappy that the months-long fraud investigation paralyzed the country and delayed NATO members from sending in more troops to combat the insurgency.
This past week, in a speech to parliament, Karzai shared his plans for reforming the ECC. He reportedly said that in this year's parliamentary elections he would limit "interference from others" by "Afghanizing" the poll process. Previously, the BBC had been told that the outgoing UN representative to Afghanistan (Kai Eide, from Norway) had struck a private deal that two of the five commission members would be foreigners, and that one of the appointees would have veto power. But this deal is not in the new decree.
As a result of this change in the commission, some western officials questioned whether the international community would be willing to underwrite the costs of another election when they believe it is likely to be flawed. Peter Galbraith, the former deputy UN envoy to Afghanistan, said, "In principle, Afghanizing the election process is a good idea. But...this clearly is not a matter of Afghanization, it is a matter of getting rid of the international monitors who provided a degree of honesty in the election, so as to enable Karzai and his allies to manipulate -- steal, if you will -- the upcoming parliamentary election." (Full Story)
does China need to let the internet know that it is straining Chinese-Internet relations..... tee hee i look for that all the time in your posts because it's SO true!
ReplyDeleteHaha! The internet is most definitely straining their relations with China. Good one!
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