Discipline - Backpage Briefing - Internet Service Providers sign self disciple pacts with China Internet Association - Brief Article

Telecom Asia, August, 2002

China's ISPs have taken action to pre-empt government censorship of Web content--by doing it themselves.

Some 300 ISPs across the country have signed "self discipline pacts" with the China Internet Association, a self-regulatory industry coalition. The pacts hold signatories responsible for producing or releasing content that is illegal or otherwise "harmful to national security and social stability", according to state news agency Xinhua.

The "self discipline" scheme--which is already in effect in Beijing and provinces around the country, including Liaoning, Fujian, Hubei and Guizhou--follows news last month that Internet cafes have been ordered to install filtering software that also tells police when Web surfers try to access blacklisted pages.