Online censorship in China

This topic came up in the tute and I didn't really feel like I got to communicate my point effectively, so I'm having a second attempt here, albeit a very brief attempt :p

Not even the Chinese gov. has the resources to filter and watch the actions of every net user in the country - instead they seek to intimidate. YES they do filter out websites, YES they do watch chat-rooms, yes they do a whole lot more and they do it very actively - that fact that they do it so actively is kind of the point. They've made it not in the interest of a great number of internet users in China to even bother looking up subversive material. This guy?/girl? (i didn't bother check) puts it in nicer language...

"Internet filtering in China is best described as a matrix of control in which technological and non-technological measures intersect at different levels of access to enforce strict information control policies. Such a matrix of controls (combining filtering and surveillance technology with fear, intimidation and imprisonment) discourages most people from attempting to access banned information, let alone actively seek out means to circumvent such controls."

And more on that theme of intimidation.

Hell yes they have arrested people for doing 'naughty' stuff on the internet - but primarily as a tool to remind the rest of the population that they could be being watched. At least, that's my opinion :D Here's the article one of the girls mentioned about 2 elderly ppl getting shipped off to countryside for protesting.

edit: And here's some slightly dated information on who is using the internet in china - see last paragraph. 60:40 split of men to women, "54.1% of all Internet users in China were under 24 years of age, 70.5% were under 30 and 82% were under 35". This group, to generalise, has only known a growing/prosperous china, and thinks the government isn't doing a terrible job. If they are angry at anyone, it's the Japanese. I was there from late Nov to early Feb this year, and wherever I was in the country and at pretty much any time of day, there was a film/tv series running that portrayed the Japanese as monsters. Pretty scary when you think there's a nation of people being raised on that sort of media :S