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And by the Chinese, no less! How do I know this? Because the Chinese government has released its first “White Paper” on the Internet, and it says so. Entitled “The Internet in China” and released by the Information Office of the State Council — the full text is available here; a story in the China Daily is here; and James Fallows’ somewhat overlong and rambling blog posting about it is here – it declares that:

Chinese citizens fully enjoy freedom of speech on the Internet. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China confers on Chinese citizens the right to free speech. With their right to freedom of speech on the Internet protected by the law, they can voice their opinions in various ways on the Internet. Vigorous online ideas exchange is a major characteristic of China’s Internet development, and the huge quantity of BBS posts and blog articles is far beyond that of any other country. China’s websites attach great importance to providing netizens with opinion expression services, with over 80% of them providing electronic bulletin service. In China, there are over a million BBSs and some 220 million bloggers. According to a sample survey, each day people post over three million messages via BBS, news commentary sites, blogs, etc., and over 66% of Chinese netizens frequently place postings to discuss various topics, and to fully express their opinions and represent their interests.

The paper, however, stresses that “effectively protecting Internet security is an important part of China’s Internet administration, and an indispensable requirement for protecting State security and the public interest,” and notes that Chinese law prohibits the spread of “contents subverting State power, undermining national unity, infringing upon national honor and interests, inciting ethnic hatred and secession” as well as such things as pornography and terrorism. It also, rather alarmingly, calls for “the establishment of an authoritative and just international Internet administration organization under the UN framework through democratic procedures on a worldwide scale.” Now there’s an idea whose time, hopefully, will never, ever come.

Categories: Freedom of Speech, Internet    

    11 Comments

    1. SuperSkeptic says:

      “netizens”

      I like that. It’s cute.

      It also, rather alarmingly, calls for “the establishment of an authoritative and just international Internet administration organization under the UN framework through democratic procedures on a worldwide scale.” Now there’s an idea whose time, hopefully, will never, ever come.

      Couldn’t agree more.

      June 10, 2010, 7:06 pm

    2. HarryEagar says:

      Is that a written constitution? Seems to be a sensitive point today.

      June 10, 2010, 8:26 pm

    3. Hary Schell says:

      The UN will fall to the lowest common denominator on any issue, which means you can figure that whatever Robert Mugabe thinks about an issue is not far from where the UN will try to go with it. God bless us that they never get their mitts on the “Net.

      At the same time, this lovely paen to individual freedom on the Chinese Internet reminds me of the clause in the current Cuban constitution which closely resembles the 2nd Amendment of the US Bill of Rights, giving citizens the right to keep and bear arms.

      Right. Want to buy some swampland in New Mexico? A one on one, Wesson oil only, with Janet Napolitano?

      June 10, 2010, 8:43 pm

    4. mischief says:

      This is the country that bans the Catholic Church in order to preserve its citizens’ freedom of religion.

      June 10, 2010, 11:54 pm

    5. LarryA says:

      So Chinese netizens are required to freely express support for State security and fully express their opinions in favor of the public interest.

      June 11, 2010, 12:43 am

    6. Chris Travers says:

      This is entirely to be expected. Nobody wants to come out specifically against freedom of speech. So even the most oppressive regimes (Canada excluded)* will define it away rather than directly attack it.

      * “Freedom of speech is an American concept, so I don’t give it any value.” — Dean Steacy, chairman of Canada’s Human Rights Commission.

      June 11, 2010, 12:59 am

    9. Tot High Speed Internet Thailand | Cheap Broadband Internet says:

      [...] The Volokh Conspiracy » Internet Freedom of Expression Guaranteed: [...]

      June 11, 2010, 2:37 am

    10. The Unbeliever says:

      Chinese citizens fully enjoy freedom of speech on the Internet. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China confers on Chinese citizens the right to free speech.

      In related news, apparently Ignorance is Strength. UN guidelines on the recommended levels of Ignorance to follow.

      June 11, 2010, 2:51 am

    11. joev says:

      Chinese citizens fully enjoy freedom of speech on the Internet. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China confers on Chinese citizens the right to free speech.

      I’m suddenly reminded of Yakov Smirnoff’s joke about freedom in Russia to call the president names — “In America, you can say your presidents sucks to his face — we can in Russia as well. We can walk right up to the Premier and tell him the American president sucks.”

      Or it was something like that.

      Yes, I’ll keep the day job.

      June 12, 2010, 10:28 pm