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The Green Dam Case: A New Model of Chinese Internet Governance?

The Green Dam Case: A New Model of Chinese Internet Governance?. Jing XU P h.D & Associate Professor School of Journalism and Communication, Peking University, China. The Green Dam Case ( http://index.baidu.com ). Case Summary June 8- June 30 2009.

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The Green Dam Case: A New Model of Chinese Internet Governance?

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  1. The Green Dam Case: A New Model of Chinese Internet Governance? Jing XUPh.D & Associate Professor School of Journalism and Communication, Peking University, China

  2. The Green Dam Case (http://index.baidu.com )

  3. Case SummaryJune 8- June 30 2009 June 8, 2009 news from Wall Street Journal & British Guardian a directive from MIIT(the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology). As of 1 July 2009, all new personal computers sold in mainland China, including those imported from abroad are required to pre-install Green Dam Youth Escort, a content-control software June 9, waves of oppositions inside and outside June 10, MIIT announced that the installation of the Green Dam Youth Escort would not be compulsory but an optional package …..escalating oppositions June 30 2009, MIIT announced to delay the directive to an undetermined date.

  4. Questions • Why would China’s “totalitarian” system need to be back down on this? (Andrew Lih) • How did MIIT come to this action? Was it exceptional or typical for the government? What was the model or the logic of the government? • What kind of escalating critiques it faced from inside and outside? From whom? Were they meaningful? To what extent? • A new model of Internet governance?

  5. Totalism: logic of Chinese Government What’s wrong with the government? Isn’t it a strict but with moral responsibility father for public good? June 8, 2009, the directive spread online and reported by foreign media, provoking strong oppositions May19, 2009, the directive from MIIT, all computers wereobligedpreinstalled Green Dam from July. April 1st, 2009, co-directive from 4 central authorities , schools were obliged to install Green Dam on every computer in their institutions by the end of May March 2009, along with the campaign of “computer operations to rural area”, Jan.-Feb, 2009, recommended for the national special action against online porn. Oct. 8, 2008. after the test, free download started through website May 14，2008, the result of competitive negotiations published, 41.7million yuan(more than $ 6 million) for one year use of the product Jan. 14-24，2008， an urgent call for an Internet filtering software project” by MIIT

  6. Oppositions out break Software issues ∙Functional defects ∙ Security vulnerabilities ∙ Alleged software plagiarism and license violation Censorship Concerns ∙ why mandatory installment (enforcement)? ∙ access restriction: children & grown-ups? ∙ education responsibility: schools, parents & government? Government Procurement (how to spend big money ) ∙ competitive negotiation & open tender ∙ centralized procurement agency & own purchase ∙ one-year compulsory buyout (promotion with administration power) & fair competitive, WTO principium ∙ governmental Information disclosure

  7. Who stopped MIIT? (Stakeholders & Agents） Media: The Wall Street Journal, The Guardians, BBC news, New York Times,Ming Bao, China Daily, China Youth Daily, SouthernWeekly, Sina.com, Netease.com, People.com.cn, etc. Users: Online polls conducted by leading Chinese web portals revealed poor acceptance of the software by netizens. Civil Societies: OpenNet Initiative , Chinese Open Constitution Initiative Business Associations: Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), a letter signed by the heads of 22 organizations representing international businesses, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the European-American Business Council, the Information Technology Industry Council and other associations from North America, Europe, and Japan Experts:Researchers from University of Michigan, Wolchok, Yao and Halderman Other authorities: Information Office of the State Department， Premier Wen Jiabao

  8. Structure & agency Theory of structuration • although people are constrained by the social structure, they nonetheless are the agency which reproduces the social structure and leads to social change. • "To examine the structuration of a social system is to examine the modes whereby that system, through the application of generative rules and resources is produced and reproduced in social interaction.“ • Systems here mean "the situated activities of human agents" (The Constitution of Society.) and "the patterning of social relations across space-time".

  9. Agents for China’s Internet Governance • Common users • Well-known public intellectuals • Technical experts • Civil societies • Business associations • various political authorities • Media • ……

  10. Agents & social change Structuresnot simply placing constrains , but as enabling.“ Structureproviding: common frames of meaning, rules for new actions and resources. social structures: quite stable, but can be changed. Actors (agents) employ the social rules, together with the resources in social interactions. Rules and resources are not deterministic, but are applied reflexively by knowledgeable actors Thus, the outcome of action is not totally predictable.

  11. Online resources ■comments & feedbacks following online news(新闻跟帖） ■baidu bar百度贴吧 ■anonymous posting on BBS ■ twitter & blogs ■human flesh search ■Internet Spoof Other social resources ■ mass media’sagenda-setting ■citizens' petitions and resistance ■foreigners' protests ■ administrative interventions …… Agent’s use of rules and resources

  12. patterning of social relations: • Rationalization and routinization of agents’ actions will gradually become a kind of institutional practice, which will lead to establishment and change of social relationships (structuration process) • authoritative resource (relationship) • allocative resources (relationship) • discursive resources (relationship)

  13. New trends of structuration Under strict content censorship • Diversity of expressions 多样化的民意表达 • competitions of information公开的信息竞争 • Responsiveness to public appeals • deliberative dialogue积极的对话协商 • Strategic media guide策略性的舆论引导 • ……… • Just as the modernist poet Wallace Stevens once suggested: We live in the tension between the shapes we take as the world acts upon us, and the ideas of order that our imagination imposes upon the world

  14. Governmental regulation Central authority and Effectiveness Top-down monopoly control Policies for public interests Political stability & and social integrity Totalism, moral state & nationalism Internet Governance Civil rights & civil Societies Bottom-up initiatives policies with public choice deliberative democracy Pluralism & diversity, globalization Different Discourse analysis

  15. What shall we do? • taking stock of Internet governance and the way forward, especially in China • Communication & Cooperation • Identification of agents, resources, rules, • Agreed process & alternative choices • universal values and principles, • Dreams • ……

  16. 谢谢 Thank You Merci Danke Спасибо Gracias شكرا 감사합니다 ありがとうございます 许静xujing@pku.edu.cn xujingpku2009@gmail.com Peking University

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