The Great Firewall of China: How to Build and Control an Alternative Version of the Internet

Description

China's 'Great Firewall' has evolved into the most sophisticated system of online censorship in the world. As the Chinese internet grows and online businesses thrive, speech is controlled, dissent quashed, and attempts to organise outside the official Communist Party are quickly stamped out. Updated throughout and available in paperback for the first time, The Great Firewall of China draws on James Griffiths' unprecedented access to the Great Firewall and the politicians, tech leaders, dissidents and hackers whose lives revolve around it. New chapters cover the suppression of information about the first outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, disinformation campaigns in response to the exposure of the persecution of Uyghur communities in Xinjiang and the crackdown against the Umbrella movement in Hong Kong.

James Griffiths is the Asia correspondent for Canada's Globe and Mail. He was previously Senior Producer at CNN International, where he reported from Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. He is the author of Speak Not: Empire, Identity and the Politics of Language (Zed Books, 2021).

In this vividly reported narrative, James Griffiths describes exactly how China managed to control the Internet. * Foreign Affairs * Griffiths has an eye for character and writes with impartial rigour. He effectively details how China built its alternative internet. * New Statesman * A readable, well-documented history of the internet in China ... Griffiths writes in a fluent, storytelling style. * Asian Review of Books * A timely look at the world's most sophisticated censorship system. Griffiths explains a technical subject - Beijing's internet controls - through the lens of Chinese politics and the logic of social movements. * Financial Times * /i>'The book is well worth a read for anyone who wants to know more generally about online censorship, China's emerging social credit system, and the concept of cyber-sovereignty (in which each nation controls its own Internet). Griffiths also provides food for thought for the coming conversations about human rights online and whether and how we can regulate the Internet in a way that serves the common good. * Forbes * An excellent book on China's online strategy ... Fascinating and eye-opening ... This is an exciting and sobering account of how freedom, which was never in the internet code in the first place, can be effectively curtailed with the tools that were supposed to liberate us. * Guardian * An eye-opening historical picture shows how China's online strategy takes aim at the solidarity of its citizens - aided by US tech companies. * Guardian * /i>'The Great Firewall of China is a riveting read, revealing the questionable acts of states and corporations as they vie to shape the internet to their own ends. And Griffiths has an eye for the detail that brings anecdotes to life. Many of his stories show how offline and online lives merge in bizarre ways. * New Scientist * Engaging storytelling and careful research ... authoritative and compelling. It is a cautionary tale for us all. * Science Magazine * The book's strength is in Griffiths's measured tone and general even-handedness. He is as critical - more despairing than scathing - of the American tech industry as he is of Chinese government policy, and notes that much of the technical apparatus used to enforce China's restrictive version of the internet was supplied, at least initially, by American firms. * Washington Monthly * /i>'Griffiths has written an important and incisive history of the Chinese internet that introduces us to the government officials, business leaders, and technology activists struggling over access to information within the Great Firewall. * Adam M. Segal, author of The Hacked World Order * /i>'Exhaustively researched and wonderfully written, the book moves effortlessly between gripping narratives from the frontlines of digital struggle to trenchant analysis of the formation and evolution of China's Great Firewall. * Eli Friedman, Cornell University * /i>'Readers will come away startled at just how fragile the online infrastructure we all depend on is and how much influence China wields - both technically and politically. * Jason Q. Ng, author of Blocked on Weibo * /i>'A savvy journalist with a keen eye for the telling anecdote and an interest in big questions, Griffiths skilfully traces China's efforts to control the internet. He also makes important moves beyond China's borders to highlight the global implications. * Jeffrey Wasserstrom, co-author of China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know * /i>'A gripping and illuminating account of how the Chinese state fell in and out of love with the internet - and what it means for China and for the rest of the world. * Jonathan Sullivan, Director of the China Policy Institute * /i>'The definitive guide to the development of the internet in China. Griffiths' book is also an urgent and much needed reminder about how China's quest for cyber sovereignty is undermining global Internet freedom. * Kristie Lu Stout, host of CNN's News Stream and On China * Griffiths' vivid and compelling account untangles the complex evolution of China's internet controls, providing both valuable context for recent events and a solid foundation for understanding future developments. * Samuel Wade, Deputy Editor, China Digital Times * 'Readers will come away startled at just how fragile the online infrastructure we all depend on is and how much influence China wields - both technically and politically' -- Jason Q. Ng, author of Blocked on Weibo * Jason Q. Ng, author of Blocked on Weibo * 'An urgent and much needed reminder about how China's quest for cyber sovereignty is undermining global Internet freedom' -- Kristie Lu Stout * CNN * 'An important and incisive history of the Chinese internet that introduces us to the government officials, business leaders, and technology activists struggling over access to information within the Great Firewall' -- Adam M. Segal, author of The Hacked World Order * Adam M. Segal, author of The Hacked World Order *