In 2012 the SIIO and the since-reorganized State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued a circular requiring online video content providers to review videos before making them available online and holding them responsible for the content.
Authorities employed an array of technical measures to block “sensitive” websites based in foreign countries. The ability of users to access such sensitive sites varied from city to city. The government also automatically censored e-mail and web chats based on a list of sensitive key words, such as “Falun Gong,” “Dalai Lama,” and “Tibetan independence.” On China’s first annual Constitution Day, various media outlets reported that even the words “constitution” and “constitutionalism” were blocked on popular discussion forum Tieba. During the Hong Kong democracy protests, popularly known as the “Umbrella Movement,” censors blocked search terms that included “umbrella,” “Hong Kong police,” and “tear gas,” among other related terms.
While such censorship was effective in keeping casual users away from sensitive content, it was circumvented through the use of various technologies. Information on proxy servers outside China and software for defeating official censorship was readily available inside the country, but the government increasingly blocked access to the websites and proxy servers of commercial virtual private network providers. Despite official monitoring and censorship, dissidents and political activists continued to use the internet to call attention to political causes such as prisoner advocacy, political reform, ethnic discrimination, and corruption. Internet users spanning the political spectrum complained of censorship. Authorities sometimes blocked or closed the blogs of prominent activists, artists, scholars, and university professors during the year.
There were numerous press reports of purported cyberattacks against foreign websites, foreign journalists, and foreign media organizations that carried information deemed offensive by the government.
Authorities continued to jail numerous internet writers for peaceful expression of political views.
In March, Beijing and Sichuan authorities detained and interrogated the founder of human rights website 64 Tianwang, Huang Qi, and three volunteers for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” after they reported on an apparent self-immolation attempt in Tiananmen Square and for vandalizing a Mao Zedong portrait. Five computers, cell phones, and communications equipment were seized from Tianwang’s office.
According to online reports, Fujian security officials forcibly committed blogger Shi Genyuan to a mental health institution after detaining him at his home in June.
On October 7, the Telegraph reported that authorities detained poet Wang Zang after he posted a photograph of himself online carrying an umbrella in an apparent show of solidarity with prodemocracy protesters in Hong Kong (umbrellas were a symbol of the protests). According to Wang’s spouse, the day after he posted the photograph on Twitter, security officials raided his home and confiscated his computer and his umbrella.
The State Secrets Law obliges internet companies to cooperate with investigations of suspected leaks of state secrets, stop the transmission of such information once discovered, and report the crime to authorities. Furthermore, the companies must comply with authorities’ orders to delete such information from their websites, and failure to do so is punishable by relevant departments such as the police and the Ministry of Public Security.
Regulations prohibit a broad range of activities that authorities interpret as subversive or slanderous to the state.