Two piglets at a zoo in Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region in southern China, Feb. 9, 2007. (Jason Lee/Reuters)

In China, this photo may be porn

A ham-handed directive illustrates the depths of Beijing's digital dilemma.

By Thomas Mucha
Published: June 15, 2009 05:37 ET
Updated: September 13, 2009 11:36 ET

(Warning: This column may contain images and ideas not suitable for children or citizens of China.)

Examine, if you dare, the photograph at the top of this story.

It's right there for any man, woman or child to see: a naked couple cavorts, bare limbs draped seductively across the frame, their fleshy faces pressed together like a couple of animals. Clearly, this image is pornographic.

Or so says the Chinese government's latest attempt to regulate the internet.

If that sounds stupid, it's because it is. But by potentially treating these porcine pixels as "harmful material for the public," Beijing is straining under a self-imposed digital dilemma: how to promote the internet to boost economic growth and efficiency, while allowing the central government to maintain some degree of control over Chinese society.

If pigs are porn, then clearly the strategy still has some kinks. (More on that in a moment.)

This past week, the Chinese government issued a sweeping directive: Beginning July 1 every personal computer sold in the country must include new software that filters pornography and other content from the view of China's 300 million internet users.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Beijing aims to "construct a green, healthy and harmonious internet environment, and prevent harmful information on the internet from influencing and poisoning young people."

The software, called Green Dam/Youth Escort, is designed to keep web surfers from sites the government deems dangerous, adding one more brick to the Great Firewall of China.

Beijing already employs 30,000 people to police the web, who try to shape opinion by flooding popular sites with  positive comments about the Chinese Communist Party. It also routinely blocks sites that mention the spiritual movement Falun Gong, the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, the Dalai Lama and other sensitive topics. On the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen protests earlier this month, the government shut down Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and other popular social media sites.

But the coming imposition of Green Dam/Youth Escort has reportedly unnerved personal computer makers operating in China, such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo.

Comments:

No Comments.

Login or Register to post comments

Recent on Commerce:

Teacher in a box: Outsourcing homework to India

Saritha Rai - India - November 20, 2009 16:28 ET

Need help with that term paper, young American? Meet Saswati Patnaik.

Back to the Azores: a brand-new world

Ken Shulman - Europe - November 20, 2009 10:25 ET

The reverse flow of migration to this small chain of Portuguese islands is a modern marvel.

Cuba tries to keep the lights on

Nick Miroff - Cuba - November 20, 2009 06:55 ET

Cuba gets plenty of oil from Venezuela. So why is it adopting "extreme measures" to avoid blackouts?

How can 39 million buffalo be wrong?

Jason Overdorf - India - November 19, 2009 06:30 ET

Indian farmers discover the beauty of mozzarella.

Analysis: Obama in China: It's about the money

Kathleen E. McLaughlin - China and its neighbors - November 18, 2009 10:57 ET

How, and why, Obama is treating the dragon differently.

Silicon Sweatshops: A promising model

Jonathan Adams and Kathleen E. McLaughlin - China and its neighbors - November 18, 2009 06:54 ET

There's no easy way to police supply chains in Asia. But one US high-tech firm and its Taiwan supplier are taking a creative approach that might just work.

Special report: Silicon Sweatshops

Jonathan Adams and Kathleen E. McLaughlin - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 15:05 ET

Despite strict "codes of conduct," labor rights violations are the norm at factories making the world's favorite high-tech gadgets.

What do you think about Silicon Sweatshops?

News Desk - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 15:04 ET

Are high-tech supply chains in Asia good business or exploitation? You decide.

Silicon Sweatshops: Shattered dreams

Jonathan Adams - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 07:24 ET

Migrant workers making gadgets at Taiwan's high-tech parks sign deals that make them modern-day indentured servants.

Silicon Sweatshops: The China connection

Kathleen E. McLaughlin and Jonathan Adams - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 07:22 ET

For migrant workers, an electronics factory job can be a ticket into China's booming middle class. But for many, it turns into a nightmare of poor working conditions and indifferent bosses.

Silicon Sweatshops: Disposable workforce

Jonathan Adams - China and its neighbors - November 17, 2009 07:22 ET

Laid-off Taiwanese workers accuse their firm of violating industry codes even when times were good.

Video: The Chinese on Obama

Josh Chin - China and its neighbors - November 16, 2009 19:16 ET

Japan’s downward spiral

Gavin Blair - Japan - November 16, 2009 18:17 ET

One in six Japanese are now poor. The new government has vowed to tackle the problem, but how?

Asia's pushback to big tobacco

Patrick Winn - Thailand - November 15, 2009 12:30 ET

The cigarette industry wants a bigger slice of Asia. Activists want them to butt out.

International visitors buoy US tourism industry

Susan E. Reed - Worldview - November 15, 2009 09:30 ET

Despite dreary economic times, a favorable exchange rate beckons foreign tourists to the majestic Grand Circle and beyond.

Obama in Japan: Reassuring an old friend

Justin McCurry in Tokyo - Japan - November 14, 2009 16:58 ET

America's first "pacific president" extends a hand. But it's not all smiles.

Obama in Beijing: What you will see. And won't see.

Kathleen E. McLaughlin - China and its neighbors - November 14, 2009 15:56 ET

In China, anything is possible. Nothing is easy.

How other US presidents handled the dragon

Kathleen E. McLaughlin - China and its neighbors - November 14, 2009 11:31 ET

From Nixon, to Ford, to Reagan, Clinton and both Bushes, dealing with China has never been simple.

On Location: Haryana — India's looming food crisis

Jason Overdorf - India - November 12, 2009 16:45 ET

Fat in Japan? You're breaking the law.

David Nakamura - Japan - November 11, 2009 08:40 ET

As the health care debate rages in the US, Tokyo lawmakers set a maximum waist size. Are you too fat for Japan?