Page 69 - Electronic Commerce

Chapter 1

Egyptian authorities were so concerned that they made several (unsuccessful) attempts to
44
steal every Facebook password in the country. One of the first acts of the Libyan rebels
after they overthrew Muammar Qaddafi was to restore the country’s Internet connection,
which had been cut at the start of the rebellion. They also sent a text message to millions
of Libyan mobile phone users saying, “Long live free Libya,” and added $40 worth of
calling credit to each individual phone account.
The censorship of Internet content and communications restricts electronic
commerce because it prevents certain types of products and services from being sold or
advertised. Further, it reduces the interest level of many potential participants in online
activities. If large numbers of people in a country are not interested in being online,
businesses that use the Internet as an information and product delivery channel will not
develop in those countries.
Other countries, such as the People’s Republic of China and Singapore, are wrestling
with the issues presented by the growth of the Internet as a vehicle for doing business.
These countries have a tradition of controlling their citizens’ access to information from
outside the country, but they want their economies to reap the benefits of electronic
commerce. China created a complex set of registration requirements and regulations that
govern any business that engages in electronic commerce. These regulations are enforced
by the Public Security Bureau, which is a branch of the state police, not an independent
administrative agency. For example, companies in China that sell Internet services must
register all of their customers with the Public Security Bureau and must retain copies of
all e-mail messages and chat room conversations for 60 days.
The Chinese government regularly conducts reviews of ISPs and their records. Every
year, the Chinese Public Security Bureau shuts down thousands of Internet cafes for
failing to keep adequate records and requires many others to suspend operations while
they implement required electronic record-keeping procedures. Operators of Web sites in
China are required to monitor all content that appears on their sites. Blogbus, a Chinese
site that allowed visitors to post essays, was shut down in 2004 because one posting (out
of 15,000) contained an essay that included what the government deemed to be
“forbidden content.” Hundreds of people have been jailed in China for posting
“subversive” content on Web pages.
At times, the Chinese government has required the installation of censoring software
on all computers used in schools and Internet cafes in the country. One example of such
software, the Green Dam Youth Escort, blocked any Web sites on a government banned
list and tracked details of the use of the computer on which it was installed. A
requirement that all computers sold in China have this software installed was withdrawn
in 2009; however, other government efforts to limit access to the Internet are in place.
For example, China’s Golden Shield Project is an $800 million effort to limit its citizens’
access to information on the Internet that it deems to be forbidden. The Chinese
government actively monitors developments in the world to determine what it will censor.
For example, Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo became a forbidden topic when he
won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. Discussion of the 2013 arrest of Xu Zhiyong, another
human rights activist, also was forbidden.

Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.