Suchergebnisse

The proposed article analyzes three strategies implemented by the Chinese government related to the public opinion and Chinese Internet governance. The first one is intended to limit the circulation of online rumors; the second aims to control and influence the flows of information and debate against the government; and the third to increase the overflow of online information. The first strategy will be analyzed through the presentation of a case study that is the implementation of the real name registration system, supported by the Chinese government in order to limit the spread of online rumors. The Chinese government directly imposed to private companies to adopt this system that asks all the users to provide their personal ID before logging into the service limiting the freedom of people to support the circulation of harmful content. The second strategy is aimed to safeguard a more accurate control on online content, but also to limit the circulation of parodies, puns, neologism and forms of resistance to the central government. This second strategy will be analyzed taking in example the implementation of a gaming system. The gaming effect was supported by some companies in order to better control the online users activities: users can improve their online reputation reporting the misconduct of other micro bloggers. The third strategy sees the Chinese government started to hire people (the so called fifty cents Party) in order to comment positively Chinese government's actions, increasing the online cacophony and covering negative posts. The goal of this paper is to show the complexity and the variable ideologies of the Chinese Internet government in terms of Internet governance.

The study of the Chinese Internet plays a fundamental part in an on-going global discussion on the role of the new media as tools of political change. It is undeniable that the development of the Internet in China is terrific both in terms of infrastructure investment and citizen involvement. Yet, even though this process has already been studied extensively and with varying perspective, several issues regarding its impact on Chinese society remain open. This paper will specifically delve into the conflicting nature of the Internet in China's political context. It will argue that in China, the Internet can favour political change as much as it can assist the authorities in their struggle to maintain the status quo. The argument will be structured in two parts: first, we will outline the "cyber-utopian" discourse in the Chinese context, underlining how the Internet has been perceived as a powerful instrument for political change since the Nineties; second, we will describe the various strategies employed by the Chinese authorities in order to control the Internet, specifically through modes of censorship, manipulation of information and judicial intimidation.

The study of the Chinese Internet plays a fundamental part in an on-going global discussion on the role of the new media as tools of political change. It is undeniable that the development of the Internet in China is terrific both in terms of infrastructure investment and citizen involvement. Yet, even though this process has already been studied extensively and with varying perspective, several issues regarding its impact on Chinese society remain open. This paper will specifically delve into the conflicting nature of the Internet in China's political context. It will argue that in China, the Internet can favour political change as much as it can assist the authorities in their struggle to maintain the status quo. The argument will be structured in two parts: first, we will outline the "cyber-utopian" discourse in the Chinese context, underlining how the Internet has been perceived as a powerful instrument for political change since the Nineties; second, we will describe the various strategies employed by the Chinese authorities in order to control the Internet, specifically through modes of censorship, manipulation of information and judicial intimidation.