CHINA'S GREAT FIREWALL

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

BILINGUAL CLASS

CASE ANALYSIS CHAPTER 10

“CHINA’S GREAT (FIRE) WALL”

BY GROUP 3:

1.      ASTRI DATMALEM PURBA    - 1511011051

2.      FELICIA MONIKA                      - 1511011032

3.      MUTIARA FITRI ANDINI          - 1511011007

4.      STEFANUS ERIK SAPUTRA    - 1511031084

ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS FACULTY

UNIVERSITY OF LAMPUNG

2017

QUESTIONS

10-54. Should foreign companies provide their technologies to China, knowing that the                technologies are used to limit the individual freedom of Chinese citizens? Why or why not?

Answer: Foreign companies should use personal discretion when providing their technologies to China. These foreign companies are aware that their technologies are used to limit the individual freedom of Chinese citizens and it is up to the company to decide whether or not this is ethical or morally right. The Chinese government has control of what Internet users can access and has firmly stated that companies who provide their technologies will have to abide by their rules and regulations. If the company feels that it is wrong to limit individual freedom, then they should not do business in China. If the company, however, feels that business and profit is more important to the company, then they should continue to provide their technologies to China, even with the knowledge that the technologies are used to limit the individual freedom of Chinese citizens. Additionally, the government has the final say of what they feel is best for their citizens. Especially when it comes to China, our group feel like foreign companies stand no chance of changing the government’s policies. If foreign companies stand up for individual rights and stop doing business with China, we believe the country will find ways to provide for itself without turning to outside resources.

10-55. Given that China has the largest number of Internet users, do you think they can              ultimately succeed in controlling information? Why or why not?

Answer: our group believe that China has the ability to limit information, but they will not succeed in controlling all information. China has been successful in restricting Internet service providers and Internet content providers. They have also been successful is limiting and monitoring Internet access through IP tracking, blocking, DNS/URL filtering, and redirection through their “Great Firewall” and “Golden Shield”. However, tech-savvy users have found ways around the government’s firewall. Proxy servers have helped to poke holes in the wall and Internet users with sufficient knowledge can configure browsers to access the Internet through proxy servers located in other countries. This knowledge can easily be passed from Internet user to Internet user. Additionally, social network sites have captivated Chinese Internet users. After the Chinese government limited access to these sites, Internet users within the country have become even more motivated to find ways to “scale the wall” or attain access to government restricted sites.

10-56. Should the rest of the world care if China limits information access with China? Why or why not? Now that Google has moved against censorship, do you think other companies will follow suit? Why or why not?

Answer:we feel like the rest of the world should care if China limits information access with China. Access to information should be considered a human right and access should be the same regardless of geographic location. The Internet is probably the best way to get access to information. It is fast, convenient, and contains up-to-date information that is important to individuals. China should not limit this access and should not try to keep their citizens in the dark about certain topics. It is tough to say that other companies will follow suit and join Google to move against censorship. China is large country with a large amount of Internet users. Foreign companies that provide technology to China and abide by their censorship rules may not be willing to risk losing China’s business for ethical or moral reasons. Although we wish many companies would follow suit, we have many doubts about that happening. we think many companies will wait and see if China lowers their restrictions on their own before making any moves.

CHINA’S GREAT FIRE WALL IN 2017

There have been a number of news stories about the GFW, some positive and others decidedly negative.

- The good

Loosening up of the GFW being discussed

Starting with the good news, Voice of America recently reported that a 'ranking member of China’s top political advisory body' has proposed that China adopt a more open approach toward internet censorship.  The member, LuoFuhe, indicated that China has gotten to the point where it can begin to cut back on censorship and blocking of non-sensitive content.

Luo's main point was that blocking all of the major Western websites and apps is heavy-handed and ends up making life difficult for those, like scientists, who are not interested in sensitive content.  Instead, he suggested, China should come up with a specific 'negative list' of sensitive sites and stick to blocking those.While there was no reporting on the likelihood of the measure being passed, Luo's proposal is one of the first instances of open dissent against the existing GFW policy.

Google will re-enter China in 2017

One company which has been affected significantly by the GFW is Google. Google left China in 2010 after it experienced an attack on its infrastructure, purportedly by the Chinese authorities in an attempt to access the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.While after the event Google kept a presence in Hong Kong (which operates under different laws from the mainland), the Google sites and services were withdrawn from China and they remain inaccessible through the GFW.Recent reports, however, indicate that Google may be re-entering China, slowly. The Washington Post reported in March that the Google Translate app is now available in the country for the first time in seven years. Discussions are also in place to re-launch Google Scholar in the country as well.

Additionally, The Information recently reported that NetEase Inc., China's second-largest online games provider, will form a joint venture with Google to launch the Google Play service in the country.While neither of these announcements indicate that sites which matter to brands (i.e. Google search and YouTube) will ever be available in the country again, these moves are at least a start in the right direction.

-The bad

Pinterest is now blocked

Just as things seemed to be going in the right direction, CNNMoney reported in March that Pinterest, previously available in the China, is now blocked by the GFW along with most other Western social media sites.No specific reason was given for blocking Pinterest, but many speculated that the site was banned in order to ensure that similar, local internet services could be developed without foreign competition.While it's not certain which sites would take its place for the Chinese consumer, XiaoHongShu is a contender.  The app allows Chinese consumers to review merchandise bought overseas and start discussions with other brand fans in China.

NYT reports on harassment in China

The New York Times (NYT) website has a long history in China which started after a ban on the site was dropped in 2001.Since a crackdown in 2012, though, the main NYT site has been blocked by the GFW and the company's local office has faced a continuous stream of harassment in the country. According to the report, surveillance equipment has been installed on their communications lines, their landlord has been asked not to renew a lease, and their Chinese employees are occasionally questioned by state agents. Also, Apple has removed NYT's app from the Chinese app store, likely due to Chinese government pressure.

Chinese VPN users now face fines

While the concept of a national firewall seems quite heavy-handed to Westerners, there was a sense that people in China who wanted to get around the GFW could do so without too much effort.Chinese netizens can, for a small fee, subscribe illicitly to a foreign-based Virtual Private Network (VPN) which allows them free and full access to the Western internet.  And while it seemed that doing so was viewed as mischievous, it wasn't widely regarded as criminal. That seems to have changed.  Recently, China has introduced a fine for VPN users of up to 15,000 yuan or approximately three months of the average salary in the country.

RELATION WITH THE CHAPTER

The case of China's Great Fire Wall is like a real proof of the implementation of chapter 10 material about securing information system. As for the theory in chapter 10, the reason of the need for security of information systems are due to computer crimes such as hacking and cracking, and the threat of cyberwar and cyberterrorism. In this case, the reason behind the application of China's Great Fire Wall is for because in the 1998 Communist Party of China feared that the China Democracy Party (CDP) would breed a powerful new network that the party elites might not be able to control. The CDP was immediately banned, followed by arrests and imprisonment. That same year, the Golden Shield project was started. In managing the security of this information system, China implements the name internet sensorship. Through this system, the government will immediately block or redirect internet users to other pages if the word is religious, socio-political, and other related words. Not just track, the government is also able to know what is sought by who and when.

Although many popular sites and apps of the world such as Google, Facebook, Twitter had been blocked but, it does not mean Chinese people will be such technology backward. In fact, those popular apps and sites already been replaced by local Chinese-made apps. For the example Sina Weibo, this is a social network based information flow like Twitter. Sina Weibo became a leader in the realm of social media, and became an important platform for 22% of the internet user population in China. Sina Weibo's heavily allows users to include images and videos, something that is currently being developed by Twitter.Great Chinese firewall called controversy of human rights violations Chinese people instead make local chinese products become developed and actively used, thus giving a positive impact for the country because it reduces dependence on other countries.


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