China Looks at New Technology to Police Net
B E I J I N G, Nov. 8 -- Seeing gold in Chinese efforts to police the free-ranging Internet, foreign companies are rushing to sell Beijing the latest in law enforcement technology — from tiny cameras to code-breaking software.
At a trade show in Beijing today, some of the biggestnames in Web technology — companies that proudly attach themselvesoverseas to the Internet’s reputation for anarchy — peddled theirwares to crowds of police and security officials.
A saleswoman for computer-network giant Cisco Systems Inc. toldmen in dark blue police uniforms that her company was the worldleader in “fire walls” protecting electronic data.
“China is a large potential market for this kind oftechnology,” saleswoman Julia Ho said.
China’s communist leaders have approached the explodingpopularity of the Internet with ambivalence.
Must Meet Government Approval
They are keen to use the Web for education and business whiletrying to smother its potential to spread political dissent. JustTuesday, new rules were issued barring Internet sites from offeringnews not approved by the government.
In comments released today, the State Council InformationOffice, the Cabinet-level agency that will enforce the rules,explained the measures were needed to crack down on “sham” newsreports and rumors “misleading the masses, confusing publicopinion and creating chaos.”
The demands of policing China’s nearly 17 million Web users havecaught the interest of overseas companies who want to sell softwareto break coded messages and track users.
“It’s a very attractive area,” said Duncan Clark of BDA ChinaLtd., a media and Internet consulting firm in Beijing. “Foreignvendors want to sell to public security people.”
Fully a quarter of the approximately 50 Chinese and foreignvendors gathered at the Security China 2000 trade show focusedtheir efforts on the “Golden Shield Project,” Beijing’s ambitiousplan to build a nationwide computer network linking national andlocal police agencies.
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