their efforts to monitor and control blog content. These efforts have ranged from shutting
down blogging services entirely to filtering blogging services for objectionable content.
In March 2004, the state closed three popular domestic blog Web sites—www.blogcn.com,
www.blogbus.com, and www.blogdriver.com—reportedly because a blogger posted a controversial letter regarding the Tiananmen Square incident and the SARS outbreak. All three
providers were eventually allowed to reopen, but were required to implement filtering mechanisms. These filtering systems search for sensitive keywords when users attempt to post material. The ONI tested these filtering systems from computers based within China using a list
of banned keywords that Chinese hackers discovered and published to a Chinese bulletin
board system in August 2004. The list includes terms in categories such as national minorities’ independence movements, the Tiananmen Square incident, Falun Gong, proper names
of Chinese Communist Party leaders, and sensitive nonproper nouns (such as generic words
relating to uprisings or oppression), and were said to be employed by authorities on popular
instant messaging services. Using this list of keywords as a basis for testing, the ONI found
that Blogbus and BlogCN filtered only 18 and 19 of the keywords, respectively, while Blogdriver filtered 350 of the terms.
An analysis of the filtered content that the ONI tested shows the areas of content about
which the Chinese government is especially sensitive. The filtered keywords generally fall into
five categories:
1. National minorities’ independence movements: the well known Tibetan cause is represented as well as Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. The inclusion of some Taiwanese politicians’
names also fall into this category as they are all people who are known to support Taiwan
independence.
2. The Tiananmen Square incident in 1989: it is referenced by the full name, ‘‘Tiananmen
massacre,’’ the Chinese custom of referencing important events by the number of the month
and the day (in this case, 6-4), and also by reference to people involved—a mother of one of
the victims who has been campaigning for human rights. The name of Zhao Ziyang, former
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general, is also included in this category.
3. Chinese communist leaders: a list of the top leaders, past and present, are included along
with a particularly creative rewriting of Jiang Zemin by replacing one of the characters of his
name by the character for thief.
4. Falun Gong: a list of different names for Falun Gong including various spellings with characters that sound the same, often used to circumvent filtering.
5. Keywords relating to uprisings or suppression: a list of words referring to uprisings or
suppression.
Blogs are clearly seen within China as being threatening to the state because of the ways in
which they facilitate rapid and easy freedom of expression. As blogs have grown in popularity,
the Chinese authorities have focused their attention on blogs, bloggers, and blogging services
accordingly.
As with China, Iran has seen blogging become a popular activity for dissidents and human
rights activists both within and outside the state. By some counts, there are 65,000 individual
Global Civil Society and the Securitization of the Internet
141
down blogging services entirely to filtering blogging services for objectionable content.
In March 2004, the state closed three popular domestic blog Web sites—www.blogcn.com,
www.blogbus.com, and www.blogdriver.com—reportedly because a blogger posted a controversial letter regarding the Tiananmen Square incident and the SARS outbreak. All three
providers were eventually allowed to reopen, but were required to implement filtering mechanisms. These filtering systems search for sensitive keywords when users attempt to post material. The ONI tested these filtering systems from computers based within China using a list
of banned keywords that Chinese hackers discovered and published to a Chinese bulletin
board system in August 2004. The list includes terms in categories such as national minorities’ independence movements, the Tiananmen Square incident, Falun Gong, proper names
of Chinese Communist Party leaders, and sensitive nonproper nouns (such as generic words
relating to uprisings or oppression), and were said to be employed by authorities on popular
instant messaging services. Using this list of keywords as a basis for testing, the ONI found
that Blogbus and BlogCN filtered only 18 and 19 of the keywords, respectively, while Blogdriver filtered 350 of the terms.
An analysis of the filtered content that the ONI tested shows the areas of content about
which the Chinese government is especially sensitive. The filtered keywords generally fall into
five categories:
1. National minorities’ independence movements: the well known Tibetan cause is represented as well as Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. The inclusion of some Taiwanese politicians’
names also fall into this category as they are all people who are known to support Taiwan
independence.
2. The Tiananmen Square incident in 1989: it is referenced by the full name, ‘‘Tiananmen
massacre,’’ the Chinese custom of referencing important events by the number of the month
and the day (in this case, 6-4), and also by reference to people involved—a mother of one of
the victims who has been campaigning for human rights. The name of Zhao Ziyang, former
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general, is also included in this category.
3. Chinese communist leaders: a list of the top leaders, past and present, are included along
with a particularly creative rewriting of Jiang Zemin by replacing one of the characters of his
name by the character for thief.
4. Falun Gong: a list of different names for Falun Gong including various spellings with characters that sound the same, often used to circumvent filtering.
5. Keywords relating to uprisings or suppression: a list of words referring to uprisings or
suppression.
Blogs are clearly seen within China as being threatening to the state because of the ways in
which they facilitate rapid and easy freedom of expression. As blogs have grown in popularity,
the Chinese authorities have focused their attention on blogs, bloggers, and blogging services
accordingly.
As with China, Iran has seen blogging become a popular activity for dissidents and human
rights activists both within and outside the state. By some counts, there are 65,000 individual
Global Civil Society and the Securitization of the Internet
141