BEIJING—It was easier in the old days when all you had to do to keep out the barbarian hordes was build the longest, highest wall on earth. Today, building impenetrable firewalls is much harder even if the ancient impulses remain stubbornly in place. So the Chinese government—along with several others—has been forced to conduct its campaign of intimidation against adult expression on the internet and mobile networks by more aggressive means.
Thursday, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) stepped it up once again, announcing that is will start requiring Chinese mobile carries China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom to examine the quality of their business partners.
“The MIIT also asked the internet service providers to supervise the content of websites and close irregular websites,” reported Xinhuanet.com. “The authorities will introduce a blacklist and the design of content-filtering technology to help network operators stem obscene content from reappearing.”
The World Censorship Olympics continues unabated.
