Chinese internal internet

I seem to recall someone predicting that China and other such countries
would set up an internal net with strict controls. Good prediction... I wouldn't
be surprised to see Cuba recruited to it, for instance, although North Korea
doesn't appear likely (too insular).
	-Allen

>   ______________________________________________________________________
>                                  Centura
>   ______________________________________________________________________
>               China's Xinhua launches business computer network
>  __________________________________________________________________________
                                       
>      Copyright (c) 1996 Nando.net
>      Copyright (c) 1996 Reuter Information Service
      
>   BEIJING (Oct 21, 1996 10:25 a.m. EDT) - A China-wide computer network
>   launched by a subsidiary of the official news agency Xinhua on Monday
>   will take Chinese businesses online and supply them with news and
>   economic information, company officials said.
   
>   The China Wide Web (CWW) created by China Internet Corp would provide
>   Chinese customers with online services in their own language and would
>   give overseas subscribers a window on to the Chinese business world,
>   company chairman Ma Yunsheng said.

	I've about concluded that we'll see a Web dominated by two languages -
English and Japanese. It's very hard for native speakers of Indo-European
languages to learn Japanese, it's very hard for native speakers of Japanese
to learn English, and no other such language has a prosperous-enough home
country to work. Such internal nets may alter this, however...
   
[...]

>   In January, Xinhua was appointed the government regulator for foreign
>   suppliers of economic information in China, a role that some analysts
>   say clashes with its involvement in enterprises that supply financial
>   and business data.
   
[...]

>   Unlike the open-access Internet, CWW was modelled on internal company
>   networks or "intranets," Edelson said.
   
>   "There will be a lot of real-time information available," he said. "I
>   think there's going to be very fast growth from a zero start."
   
>   China Internet would enjoy free use of Xinhua's communications network
>   and already had access agreements with the powerful Minstry of Posts
>   and Telecommunications, he said.
   
>   Ma said domestic economic information would also be available through
>   Xinhua news services and databases. He declined to say how many
>   clients were expected to subscribe.

	Heavily edited domestic economic information...
   
>   The Internet is viewed by some Chinese officials as a haven for
>   pornography and political dissent but CWW would likely be a
>   politically correct alternative.
   
>   "CWW should reflect Chinese culture," technology officer Wong said,
>   without giving details.

	Ah, yes, the old claim of cultural difference to try to justify
censorship. So Nazi Germany was due to a cultural difference?
   
****** MESSAGE DAMAGED IN TRANSIT ******

"E. Allen Smith" <EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU> writes:
> 	I seem to recall someone predicting that China and other such countries
> would set up an internal net with strict controls. Good prediction... I would
> be surprised to see Cuba recruited to it, for instance, although North Korea
> doesn't appear likely (too insular).

A typical ignorant U.S. attitude towards Cuba... I received e-mail from Cuba
over the Internet back in 1989.  They're not afraid of it.  The U.S. is.

---

Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps

On Tue, 22 Oct 1996, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM wrote:

> A typical ignorant U.S. attitude towards Cuba... I received e-mail from Cuba
> over the Internet back in 1989.  They're not afraid of it.  The U.S. is.

Wrong. Both are.

-Declan


// declan@eff.org // I do not represent the EFF // declan@well.com //


June 20, 1996
                                         
         HAVANA (Reuter) - Cuban authorities have approved access to  
the Internet and other global information networks but will 
limit such access according to national interests, official 
media said Thursday. 
         The ruling Comunist Party newspaper Granma said regulations  
adopted earlier this month outlined the need for access to 
Internet and other world information networks, while observing 
interests such as ``defense and national security.'' 
         The policy of establishing who had access would be defined  
by Cuba's interests, giving priority to individuals and bodies 
with most relevance to the country's life and development, the 
newspaper said. 
         It did not specify who such people might be, but they are  
likely to come from approved state organizations and academic 
and research centres. 
         Information divulged from such global networks should be  
trustworthy and in line with Cuba's ``ethical principles'', 
Granma said. 
         A committee regulating the policy on global information  
networks would be drawn from ministries that will include the 
Interior Ministry, the Justice Ministry and the Armed Forces 
Ministry, Granma said. 

[...]