Question: The Great Firewall of China

It's no secret that Western Internet companies have to hew to the party line if they want to do business in China. Google, Yahoo!, and scores of other outfits, both domestic and foreign, have made concessions to China's censors. Getting a phone call from the government is one part of the picture. What few Westerners know is the size and scope of China's censorship machine and the process by which multinationals, however reluctantly, censor themselves. Few also know that China's censors have kept up with changing technologies, from cell phone text messaging to blogs. How do the Chinese do it? Beijing has a vast infrastructure of technology to keep an eye on any potential online dissent. It also applies lots of human eyeballs to monitoring. The agencies that watch over the Net employ more than 30,000 people to prowl Web sites, blogs, and chat rooms on the lookout for offensive content as well as scammers. In the U.S., by contrast, the entire CIA employs an estimated 16,000 people.

Companies, both foreign and domestic, also abet the government's efforts. Virtually all Net outfits on the mainland are given a confidential list of hundreds of banned terms they have to watch for. The restrictions have led many companies to make both subtle and substantial changes to their operations IDG Venture Technology Investment has invested in a Chinese company that operates online bulletin boards on real estate, entertainment, technology, autos, and more. But "we don't touch politics at all," says Quan Zhou, managing director of the group's Chinese arm. Not that such policies deter investors.

Examining the Newsclip Question

1. Summarizing How does China censor Internet traffic?

2. Making Connections Why is censorship a form of trade barrier?