The Separation of Internet Content Regulation in the Face of the Convergence of Information and Communication Technologies: The Controversies, Challenges and Solutions for China/la Separation des Controles Du Contenu D'internet en Face de la Convergence des Informations Et des Technologies de Communication: Les Controverses, Les Defis Et Les Solutions Pour la Chine (Report‪)‬

Regulating the content of published information has been a common public policy challenge for both Eastern and Western political regimes throughout history. The regulatory challenge has included attempts to protect children from exposure to material containing erotic content to the prevention of hate speech. In some periods of Chinese history, China has been one of the most regulated jurisdictions as far as content regulation has been concerned. This is paradoxical because China has made great contributions to enable information flow and knowledge sharing since ancient times: China was the country in which paper and typed letter printing technologies were invented. Each of these inventions was revolutionary in enhancing the exchange of information and knowledge. By contrast, China's strict approach to content regulation has sometimes also been very shocking. The notorious event of burning books and burying Confucian scholars in the Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC) (3) and the so called "literary inquisitions"in the middle of Qing Dynasty (1644AC-1911AC) are just two examples. (4) The pages of history both in China and in some parts of Europe record that content regulation has been a very controversial issue for societies around the world. Entering the age of the Internet, with its widespread information dissemination capabilities and without centralized administration, the question of whether and how to regulate online content presents even greater challenges. As John Perry Barlow observed: "the Internet is too widespread to be easily dominated by any single government. By creating a seamless global-economic zone, borderless and unregulateable, the Internet calls into question the very idea of a nation-state. " (5)