Chinese censorship of the internet has been decried by free speech advocates around the world. Now the city of Chongqing is trying to model itself as an international hub for cloud computing data centers, the Chinese government is promising to lift internet filters –but only for foreign businesses–which is news that the Chinese government is apparently trying to censor:
News of the special zone was first reported earlier this month by the Chinese publication “Southern Weekly.” Some online news reports on the topic have since been taken down, likely by censors.
One Chinese reporter who covered the story said in an interview that his government sources came under pressure after his article appeared and would no longer discuss it.
If China has granted the zone unfettered Web access, it will provide foreign companies, and possibly some domestic firms, greater rights and freedoms than China’s 1.3 billion citizens, said Phelim Kine, an Asia researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch.
Read the story: Chinese city draws ire with controversial cloud zone | ITworld.