Bloggers in China sound off on SOPA blackout

Watching from China, where Web censorship is practically a national hallmark, some can't help but smirk and crack jokes about the controversy raging over Internet freedom in the U.S.

"Now the U.S. government is copying us and starting to build their own firewall," wrote one micro-blogger, relating China's chief censorship tool to the U.S. plan to block sites that trade in pirated material.

The Relevant Organs, an anonymous Twitter account (presumably) pretending to be the voice of the Chinese communist leadership, quipped: "Don't understand the hoopla over Wikipedia blackout in the U.S. today. We blacked it out here years ago. Where are OUR hugs?"

PHOTOS: Sites on strike against SOPA and PIPA

Humor aside, the brouhaha has generated some strong opinions in the country that  Google fled, not the least because opponents of the SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy bills are conjuring Chinese Web censorship to promote their case.

The consensus here, however, appears to be this: Americans should try a minute in our shoes before invoking online Armageddon.

Number of Web users in China hits 513 million

The number of Web users in China soared past 500 million last year, a tech-industry group said Monday, capping a period of explosive growth that has elevated Chinese Internet companies and challenged social and political discourse in the communist-controlled state.

The government-run China Internet Network Information Center said Monday that the number of Web users in China grew 12% in December, to 513 million, compared with the same period in 2010.

Chinese Internet giants such as search engine Baidu Inc., news portal Sina Corp. and gaming and messaging service provider Tencent Holdings added millions of users, raising the profile of the increasingly lucrative sector.

But 2011 was also a year that saw the increasing social might of Chinese micro-blogs, which became engines of public opinion that often challenged the authority of state-sanctioned news.

The number of micro-blog users quadrupled last year to just under 250 million, the China Internet Network Information Center said in its recent report.

Known in China as weibo, micro-blogs act much like Twitter, allowing users to post short messages with links that can then be read by subscribers.

Apple's promotional center sparks controversy on Chinese campus

Apple may be one of the hottest aspirational brands in China, but students from the country's most prestigious university are accusing the company of invading precious study space by opening a promotional center inside a campus library.

The glass-enclosed Apple Experience Center will occupy about 430 square feet in a former study area on the third floor of Peking University's main library, according to the People’s Daily.

Students will get to tool around on Apple gadgets to help with their studies and order products at a discount, the state-run newspaper reported.

But some students say the center inappropriately combines consumerism with academics –- a mix that is already more than familiar on American campuses.

"It's totally against the spirit and environment of the library," said a student surnamed Chen, according to the People's Daily. "Apple should have discounts or give-back activities if they want self-promotion, other than introducing this commercial thing into a sacred place like this."

Other students noted that competition is fierce for seats inside the library and that the center would only make a shortage of study space worse.

"They shouldn’t take up precious self-study facilities," Xiao Wu, a student, told the National Business Daily.

The center is being managed by a licensed Apple dealer called Shanghai Lianyu Technology Development Co.

Nine universities in China feature similar centers, though all in non-academic areas of campus, according to Apple's Chinese website.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company has experienced phenomenal growth in China in recent years, capturing a cult-like following among the country's growing middle and upper classes.

The company's revenue in greater China, which includes Hong Kong, reached $8.8 billion the first three quarters of this year -– six times more than a year ago.

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Photo: Shoppers try out computers at the Apple store in Beijing. Credit: Chien-min Chung / Los Angeles Times

China cracks down on Internet rumors

Under growing government pressure, China’s leading micro-blogging service, Sina Weibo, launched a new effort to quash Internet rumors Friday by sending warnings to its users to ignore false reports.

The unusual move comes four days after Beijing’s Communist Party chief visited Sina Corp.'s headquarters and called for Internet companies to stop the spread of harmful and inaccurate information, which is seen as a threat to the government’s control.

Sina, which operates more than 200 million Twitter-like micro-blogs, sent at least two alerts Friday, one to dispel a rumor that the Red Cross Society of China was selling blood to hospitals for profit, the other to bust a claim that a 19-year-old woman’s murderer had been freed because of his father’s connections.

“For sending out false information, the user's account will be suspended and will not publish posts or be followed for one month,” the second alert said.

Micro-blogs, known in China as weibos, have been a thorn in the side of authorities as their popularity has grown in recent years. The medium has a massive casual following but has also been used to expose government scandals and disseminate articles, photographs and videos that would stand little chance of making it into state-controlled media.

The platform has been something of a nerve center for educated and tech-savvy Chinese, who have overwhelmingly embraced Sina, China’s first provider of micro-blogs. In 140 characters or fewer, users can express their opinions relatively freely to as wide an audience as they can attract. Celebrities and famous business figures attract millions of so-called followers. 

But the government’s patience has been severely tested in recent months.

In early July, micro-blogs were abuzz with word that former Chinese President Jiang Zemin had died. Signals grew so strong that some foreign media outlets confirmed the sensitive rumor. But after several days, China’s state media refuted the story (though Jiang has still not been seen in public).

Later that month, micro-blogs helped galvanize widespread anger over official handling of a high-speed train collision in the eastern city of Wenzhou that killed 40 people.

For days, Internet users sent millions of posts fueling innuendo that authorities were hastily burying wreckage and rescue teams were missing survivors. Officials denied the rumors under a barrage of criticism.

Shortly after, China Central Television ran a report condemning rumors on micro-blogs as immoral –- an official shot across the bow for Sina and its competitors.

“Sina is probably using the messages to do two things,” said Jeremy Goldkorn, an expert in Chinese digital media, “make users think twice about posting scandalous or inflammatory information [and] to show the government that they are serious about controlling ‘rumors.’”

A spokesman for Sina said Friday that the company was stepping up efforts to silence intrigue and said programmers had devised a system to thwart what they felt were the most egregious rumors.

“We’re trying to do our best to be a stable and trustworthy platform,” said the spokesman, who gave only his last name, Mao. He declined to comment on government pressure.

Experts say it was only a matter of time before the government would scrutinize Sina because of its growing influence. It’s now in the unenviable position of trying to preserve and expand a highly popular tool while also being forced to diminish users’ freedoms.

Chinese Internet companies largely conduct their own censorship for the government, employing hundreds, if not thousands, to trawl content to remove offending material.

But asking Sina to identify rumors and disprove them on their own is an entirely new endeavor that could introduce new costs.

In February, Deutsche Bank cut its rating for the Nasdaq-listed Sina stock from “hold” to “sell” citing the risk of government regulation.

The site, which started primarily as a web portal, launched its weibo service two years ago and has seen its shares nearly triple in value. In the last three months alone the company has signed up nearly 80 million new micro-blog accounts.

Some of them may have been the thousands that mocked the latest campaign.

“There're so many rumors in the world. Do you really need to explain them to me one by one?” wrote a micro-blogger named WeMarketing. “In fact, without those announcements, I wouldn’t have even heard of those rumors.”

A micro-blogger named Xiqing Qiu wrote: “Can Sina stop sending me these announcements about anti-rumors? Is this a double negative denial? You think I'll believe you once you say it's a rumor?”

Ironically, the government’s tight control on information and media is largely cited as the reason China has been so susceptible to hearsay. The problem is anything but new.

One famous Chinese proverb, nearly 3,000 years old, says: “Trying to stop people’s mouths is like trying to stop a flood.”

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Photo: An Internet cafe in Shanghai. Credit: Qilai Shen / Bloomberg News

Youku, China's No. 1 video site, signs deal with Warner Bros.

Youku Inc., China’s top online video site, said Tuesday it had signed a deal with Warner Bros. to stream hundreds of the studio’s new and old movies.

The deal follows another first ever venture for a major studio when Warner Bros. said two weeks ago it would offer its content to Chinese cable television users.

Youku will receive up 450 new and old Warner Bros. titles including the “Harry Potter" and “Lord of the Rings” series with Chinese subtitles costing between 77 cents and 46 cents depending on how recent the film is.

The company will be competing against free illegal downloads, but has made its content cheaper than pirated DVDs, which ordinarily cost around $1.50 in China.

“Over the past year, we’ve seen Chinese Internet users become more sophisticated in terms of what they'll spend money on,” said Dele Liu, Youku's CFO. “People are increasingly willing to pay for high quality content.”

Youku said the newest Warner Bros. titles will be available about 100 days after their theatrical release in China. Movies that aren’t shown in theaters will be made accessible the same time their DVDs become available in China. Titles that fail to receive approval from Chinese censors will not be available through the service.

Warner Bros. has been among the forefront of Hollywood’s efforts to gain access to China’s booming movie-going market. China currently limits the number of foreign movies for theatrical release to 20 per year.

Youku, which recorded the highest one-day jump in five years after its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in December, has yet to turn a profit and has seen its stock drop 60% since its peak.

Still, the site is the market leader in Chinese streaming video, commanding 22% market share last year, according to the research firm Analysys International.

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Executives at Alibaba resign amid fraud investigation

Alibaba.com Ltd., China’s largest e-commerce website, announced the resignation of two of its most senior leaders Monday after an internal investigation found more than 2,000 fraudulent virtual storefronts had been set up with the help of company salespeople.

In a company statement, Alibaba.com said Chief Executive David Wei and Chief Operating Officer Elvis Lee were not involved in the scams but wanted to shoulder responsibility for the “systemic break-down" in Alibaba.com’s "culture of integrity.”

Wei is being replaced by Jonathan Lu, chief executive of sister company Taobao.com, a hugely popular online shopping website. Alibaba.com is the flagship site of Alibaba Group, a multibillion-dollar Internet empire headed by one of China’s most charismatic business figures, Jack Ma.

In addition to Taobao, the company owns Yahoo’s China operations and Alipay.com, an online payment service. Founded in 1999, Alibaba.com has become one of the world’s largest business-to-business platforms in the world, linking sellers of Chinese manufactured goods to millions of wholesalers overseas. The company is about 40% owned by Yahoo.

The company said it began noticing a surge in fraud claims in late 2009 and launched a probe. Findings showed that about 100 members of the company’s 5,000-member sales staff helped fraudsters evade steps to authenticate their businesses so they could pretend to sell electronic goods at attractive terms and prices.

Alibaba.com said it had shutdown those storefronts but that the investigation was ongoing.

Alibaba.com shares fell 3.5% in trading in Hong Kong on Monday before the announcement.

-- David Pierson

Photo: Jack Ma, chairman and chief executive of Alibaba Group, speaks at a news conference in Beijing, January 19, 2011. Credit: Jason Lee / Reuters

Father of China's Great Firewall discusses being persona non grata, admits to skirting the censorship he built

The man known as the father of China's so-called Great Firewall is defending his invention, which blocks out hundreds of thousands of foreign websites, and admits to owning software to evade the censorship he helped create.

In a rare English-language newspaper interview published Friday, Fang Binxing, president of the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, told the state-owned Global Times that he owned six virtual private networks, or VPNs, to scale the firewall and determine what was and wasn't accessible in China.

"I have six VPNs on my home computer," Fang, 50, told the newspaper. "But I only try them to test which side wins: the GFW or the VPN."

He added, "I'm not interested in reading messy information like some of that anti-government stuff."

Fang, who could not be reached for comment Friday by The Times, said the filtering technology was operational five years before it came online in 2003, and he likened the system to traffic control that constantly required upgrading.

Chen Weiwei the 'Running Naked Man' is a viral hit in China

Chen Weiwei, also known as the Running Naked Man, has become a viral sensation in China after stripping down to his underwear out of frustration with the nation's railway system that has left many unable to travel during the country's Spring Festival holiday.

David Pierson, a Times reporter based in China, provided a report of Weiwei's exploits, the public support for his actions, and the fiasco it's created for the government over on our sister blog, Money & Company.

Pierson reported:

Chen's unlikely saga started last Tuesday when he couldn't buy tickets home despite waiting in line 14 hours at the west Jinhua railway station in China's eastern Zhejiang province.

Though he stood only third from the front of the line, Chen complained people cut in front of him, costing him his chance at the few tickets available to his hometown in central Henan province, 15 hours away by train.

With nothing left to do, Chen ripped off his clothes down to his underwear, shoes and socks and stormed into the station master's office looking for an explanation.

A photographer for a state news service captured the moment in the office, snapping pictures of a doughy Chen in tight boxer briefs next to a poker-faced rail official smoking a cigarette and writing a text on his cellphone.

The photos of Chen quickly went viral, with Internet-users nicknaming him the "running naked man" and calling him a hero for standing up to the state's rail monopoly.

"Running naked didn't put shame on you," said one Web post addressed to Chen on the popular portal Sohu.com. "It put shame on the system."

To read Pierson's full-story on Weiwei, the Running Naked Man, read his Money & Company post, Unable to get train ticket, man strips in frustration, becomes Chinese Internet sensation.

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Image: A screenshot of Chen Weiwei in a Chinese railway official's office, posted online. Credit: news.163.com

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg visits China

Facebook Inc. chief Mark Zuckerberg was spotted in Beijing on Monday touring the campus of China’s No. 1 search engine, Baidu, ending months of anticipation as to when he would visit China, the world’s largest Internet market.

Baidu confirmed the meeting between Zuckerberg and Robin Li, the search engine’s 42-year-old, American-educated chief executive, who has stewarded the site into the second-largest Internet company in China. Grainy photographs of the two men were posted on a microblog belonging to a Baidu employee.

A Baidu spokesman declined to say what the two tech moguls discussed in the meeting, which also was attended by Zuckerberg’s Chinese American girlfriend Priscilla Chan.

“They’ve known each other for some time,” Baidu spokesman Kaiser Kuo said of Li and Zuckerberg. “It does not foretell Facebook’s entry into China.”

Facebook, like Twitter and YouTube, has been blocked by censors in China since 2009. China’s government is extremely sensitive about social media because of its ability to organize groups rapidly. However, more Chinese are downloading software that allows them to evade censors and access the banned sites.

For weeks, Chinese have been joking about Zuckerberg’s visit because his hugely popular site is blocked in China.

"We warmly welcome the founder of  '404 NOT Found' and 'Mr. The Search Result Cannot be Displayed’ to visit China!" read one post, a reference to the error messages Internet users often receive when they visit banned sites in China.

Another poster suggested that the Zuckerberg biopic “The Social Network” be renamed in China “The Connection Has Been Reset” -– another error message commonly found here.

Zuckerberg, who was recently named Time magazine’s person of the year, has been learning Mandarin in preparation for the trip. He and Chan ordinarily take a two-week trip abroad, according to a September profile of Zuckerberg in the New Yorker magazine.

Though the meeting with Baidu will spark speculation over Facebook’s ambitions in a country with 440 million Internet users, China remains a highly competitive market for social media. Its largest Internet company, Tencent Holdings, boasts 637 million accounts for its instant messaging service, QQ. By comparison, Facebook has 500 million accounts globally.

Oak Pacific Interactive, the parent company of Facebook clone Renren, is planning a $1-billion initial public offering in Hong Kong, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Facebook launched a Chinese-language site in 2008, about a year before it was blocked. If Zuckerberg is interested in regaining access to China, he will need a sound relationship with the government officials who bedeviled Google. Ironically, Zuckerberg and Chinese censors have something in common: being criticized for violating privacy.

-- David Pierson