Internet and social media are changing China

[Barun Mitra]

Voices from a Networked, 'Transformed' China
New book sees Internet as harbinger of irreversible change

http://asiasociety.org/new-york/voices-networked-transformed-china

NEW YORK, February 19, 2014 -- "The Internet has radically transformed
China," said Emily Parker, author of the book "Now I Know Who My
Comrades Are: Voices from the Internet Underground", in a public
discussion at Asia Society New York.

Talking about about the Internet's rise in China, Parker argued that
Chinese netizens overcome the barriers of isolation and mutual
distrust when they connect with like-minded individuals online. She
emphasized that although they are free to criticize the one-party
state on the Internet, they are censored and even persecuted for
attempts to assemble a physical crowd offline.

In the decade spent conducting research for her book, Parker found
that while state censors and dissidents in China, Russia, and Cuba are
ensnared in an increasingly complex, sophisticated "cat-and-mouse
game," the Internet has ushered in profound psychological changes that
authoritarian governments cannot reverse.

Also on stage at Asia Society was Andrew McLaughlin, former Director
of Global Public Policy at Google. McLaughlin cited the Chinese
government's mounting demands that Google extend censorship to
websites outside of China as one of many forces that drove the company
to leave China. He recommended that the U.S. government use trade
agreements as a "policy lever" to encourage its trading partners to be
more open. The U.S. government must also fund research and development
while maintaining a consistent domestic and international approach to
freedom of information, McLaughlin, now CEO of Digg and Instapaper,
said.

Parker identified U.S. technology companies as the best "ambassadors
of the U.S. brand" of open access to information as they are "not
weighed down" by policy agendas. She also noted that the number of
Chinese citizens who seek to eradicate their current system of
government remains low. Yet McLaughlin said it was possible that a
growing inequality gap in China that limits the social mobility of
millions of citizens could be the ultimate factor to incite collective
action against the state. For more, watch the full video.
http://asiasociety.org/video/policy/networked-china-complete

Reported by Shazeda Ahmed