Fahrenheit 451: Burning through the Great Firewall of China

• Author: Marina Sechenova
• Position: St. Thomas University School of Law
• Pages: 283-314

e Indonesian Journal of International & Comparative Law

ISSN: 2338-7602; E-ISSN: 2338-770X

http://www.ijil.org

© 2014 e Institute for Migrant Rights Press

e author would like to thank her Professor Roy Balleste, Professor of Law and Director

of the Law Library at St. omas University School of Law, for all his help, patience, and

eorts in educating the author and helping her ensure a thorough article on this intricate

topic.

fahrEnhEit 451

Burning through thE grEat firEwall of China

Marina Sechenova

St. omas University School of Law

E-mail: msechenova@gmail.com

The Internet has unarguably changed our paradigm of social interaction,

perceptions, and norms, and will continue to affect future generations as it

evolves. Through content regulation, nations are able to manipulate the way

that paradigm shifts and thus, both directly and incidentally, control our fu-

ture. This paper will assess how the ideologically polar opposites United

States and China regulate the Internet, what content both nations regulate,

and whether regulation of that content is possible and desirable. Inspired by

the recent events at the World Internet Conference (WIC) in Wuzhen, China,

in which the Chinese government attempted to show a faux sense of open-

ness, transparency and freedom of their Internet, the topic of Internet content

regulation is crucial to all global citizens. This paper will rst focus on the

birth and infrastructure of the Internet, followed by the intricacies of tech-

nical and legal modes of Internet content regulation. It will then present the

approaches of several legal theories that have been presented by various

scholars who are pro and against Internet content regulation. Lastly, it will

evaluate those approaches and present an alternate way of how United States

and China should approach Internet content regulation as to minimally over-

step their powers and minimize harm to the freedom of expression and priva-

cy of their citizens.

Keywords: Information and Technology Law, Internet Governance, International

Law, Cyber Law, Freedom of Information.

III Indonesian Journal of International & Comparative Law 283-314 (April 2016)

284

Sechenova

I. INTRODUCTION

In today’s world, information technology is an essential feature of hu-

manity. In fact, it has become more pervasive in today’s society that it

has ever before. Citizens of all ages and races depend on information

technology as instantaneous source of information, which is powered

by the Internet. is network connects all of us in any country or con-

tinent to every kind of piece of information imaginable, in turn, merg-

ing our cultures together and facilitating the exchange of information

around the globe. Simply put, the Internet has unarguably changed our

paradigm of social interaction, perceptions, and norms, and will con-

tinue to aect future generations as it evolves. It is no surprise that one

study, for example, nds that digital media plays signicant role in the

democratization movement across North Africa and Middle East.1 In

a sense, the Internet is at the forefront of the crusade for a free world.

However, just like all things in life, the Internet is a double-edged

sword. On the one hand, the Internet provides us with vast amounts

of educational and recreational information, while on the other it is

utilized as a means of perpetuating cybercrime and illegal activity. It is

because of the immeasurable scope of the ability and potential of the

Internet that countries attempt to regulate their citizen’s cyber activities.

More specically, the Internet, as “the Arab Spring” has shown,2 has

potential to be an important catalyst in the introduction of political

change. In light of its liberalizing potential, many illiberal governments

engage in many futile attempts to block the undesirable contents. e

most extreme example is the notorious North Korea, where Internet is

exclusively intended for an elite few.3

In this paper I will assess how the ideologically polar opposites

United States and China regulate the Internet, what content both

nations regulate, and whether regulation of that content is possible and

desirable. I believe that it is a crucial topic to discuss because what we

1. Philip N. Howard &Muzammil M. Hussain, e Role of Digital Media, 22 J. 

D 35-48 (2011).

2. See Id.

3. Matthew Sparkes, Internet in North Korea, T T (Dec. 23, 2014),

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/11309882/Internet-in-North-Korea-

everything-you-need-to-know.html.

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Fahrenheit 451: Burning through the Great Firewall of China

Sechenova

see on the Internet directly shapes our cultures, beliefs, and ultimately,

society. More importantly, through content regulation, countries are

able to manipulate the way that paradigm shis and thus, in a way,

control our future. I believe that this topic is particularly signicant

in light of recent events at the World Internet Conference (“WIC”) in

Wuzhen, China, in which the Chinese government blatantly attempted

to mislead the global participants of the Conference that their policies

of Internet governance are “multilateral, democratic, and transparent”4

through the use of various tactics, such as giving the participants of

the Conference their own Xiaomi Mi Note LTE tablets and granting

them with Wi-Fi access to pages that are normally blocked for Chinese

citizens.5

As such, I will rst concentrate on the background of the birth

of the Internet and how it evolved, which will help shed light on the

technical and legal modes of how Internet content can be controlled

and regulated, followed by examples of how both ways are executed

in the United States and China. I will then explain the arguments of

how proponents and opponents of Internet content regulation view

it and illustrate how dierent nations have taken various approaches

to regulate the information on the Internet and suggestions of various

legal scholars and theories. Conclusively, I will evaluate the approaches

and present a conclusion, in which I will suggest a third way of how

United States and China should approach Internet content regulation as

to minimally overstep their powers and minimize harm to the freedom

of expression and privacy of their citizens.

II. THE MANY SIDES OF THE DOUBLE-

EDGED SWORD

ere are a multitude of multifaceted and complex problems with Inter-

net content regulation. Although the Internet itself is an international

phenomenon that is controlled and regulated by multiple stakeholders,

4. I G P, e Wuzhen Compradors, (Dec. 29, 2015),

http://www.internetgovernance.org/2015/12/29/the-chinese-netmundial-ini-

tiative/.

5. Id.