What is Golden shield of China?

You might have heard of the Golden Shield Project, or perhaps the Great Firewall of China. Here we’ve been trying to find out most unknown things on the topic and will explore what the implications of the project are in China and around the world.

So, what is the Golden Shield of China?

The Golden Shield Project is often nicknamed the Great Firewall of China, thanks to the high levels of censorship within the country.

It’s 2006 and less than 10% of China is online. The Chinese government looks to Silicon Valley to protect their citizens from the unfiltered chaos of the internet, resulting in the construction of an epic firewall called the Golden Shield.

The project also named National Public Security Work Informational Project. The Golden Shield is the Chinese nationwide network-security fundamental constructional project by the e-government of the People's Republic of China. This project includes security management information system, criminal information system, exit and entry administration information system, supervisor information system and traffic management information system, etc. It has also seemingly been used to attack international websites using Man-on-the-side DDoS, for instance, GitHub on 2015/03/28.

It is operated by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) of the government of China. It was initiated in 1998 and began operations in November 2003.

Why does China need this Golden Shield?

China had a permanent internet connection from April 20th, 1994. Growth started off slow, with the number of users reaching 1,600 by the end of the year. However, between 1996 and 1998, the growth rate increased to 300%, making the total at the time 2.1 million internet users. This rapid growth prompted the Ministry of Public Security to set up the Golden Shield Project. The aim of the Golden Shield Project was to maintain a database of all internet users and use this to help maintain national security. It was essentially a method of conducting mass surveillance within China.

Due to the rapid increase in users, the Chinese government wanted to implement methods which would ensure that citizens were not able to access content deemed inappropriate, including; criminal activity, pornography, obscenities, and anything defamatory to the Chinese government.

This was the beginning of censorship on the web in China. Three main methods were used, IP Blocking, IP Address Misdirection, and Data Filtering.

What has to follow according to Golden Shield?

Internet companies in China have to abide by a ‘Public Pledge on Self-Regulation and Professional Ethics for China Internet Industry’. The Pledge ensures that companies do not post, product or promote any content which might jeopardize state security, disrupt social stability, break any laws or regulations, or promote superstition and obscenity. Even companies including Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have to abide by these regulations.

It’s questionable as to how accurate you can expect news outlets to be in China. Many journalists are encouraged, or rather, forced to abide by the regulations above, otherwise, they can expect to face dismissals, fines, arrests, or even televised confessions.

China goes to many lengths to ensure that these rules are followed. Most of the regulations are centered around protecting national security and maintaining social order. In the Golden Shield project, there are over 50,000 people employed by the government. These employees have the job of ensuring the rules centering national security and maintaining social order are followed. Social media influencers are also employed to spread pro-government messages. It’s estimated that as many as 500 million pro-government comments are shared per year.

Government-approved virtual private networks (VPNs) are very expensive to buy and enable the Chinese government to see users’ activities. Apple had to remove 674 VPN apps from China’s App Store last year because of this incentive by the government. It all comes back to surveillance.

What are the impacts of Golden Shield?

Due to the restrictions on VPNs within China, there have been many problems to face by companies, in particular, foreign companies, within the country. Part of China’s reasoning for having the Golden Shield Project, to begin with, is to control the flow of information.

The World Trade Organisation understands that China has a right to censor information, however, what’s unacceptable is the Chinese government blocking commercial access to foreign companies, only to set up companies with the same purpose within China. A good example of this is Facebook. In China, there are apps with the same functionality as Facebook called Weibo and WeChat, except they are freely accessible to Chinese citizens.

Weibo is very much like Facebook Messenger, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Messenger used Weibo’s structure as an idea of where to take the app next. Everything takes place within Weibo, meaning users can talk to friends, find out the news, and more without needing more apps.

This makes it particularly hard for companies to crack the Chinese market. That means apps that are successful elsewhere in the world can struggle.

It remains to be seen how many ideas can cross out of China via the Great Firewall of China.

 

The political and ideological background of the Golden Shield Project is considered to be one of Deng Xiaoping’s favorite sayings in the early 1980s: "If you open the window for fresh air, you have to expect some flies to blow in."

The Chinese Internet censorship programs have censored Websites that related-

• Websites deemed as subversive.

• Websites relating to criminal activity.

• Websites that contain anything the Chinese authorities regard as obscenity or pornography.

• News sources which cover topics that are considered defamatory against China, such as police brutality, Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, freedom of speech, democracy sites. These sites include Voice of America and the Chinese edition of BBC News.

• Sites related to the Taiwanese government, media, or other organizations, including sites dedicated to religious content, and most large Taiwanese community websites or blogs.

• Websites belonging to "outlawed" or suppressed groups, such as pro-democracy activists and Falun Gong.

• Sites linked with the Dalai Lama, his teachings or the International Tibet Independence Movement.

• Most blogging sites experience frequent or permanent outages.