Andrew McLaughlin, Senior
Policy Counsel for Google, discusses China’s efforts to control the
internet. China has developed one of the most sophisticated efforts to
filter and regulate the web, involving multiple agencies and layers of
government. It attempts to censor web pages, blogs, online chat, and
email. The attempts to filter and control the web are dynamic and occur
at many different points in the chain. US companies working in China,
including Yahoo and Microsoft are facing increasing pressures under
Chinese law to censor and filter the internet. Why has China developed
such an extensive control system? What impact does this have on US
companies seeking to do business in China? What are the implications
for the spread of democracy and human rights.
