Internet cannot transcend legal boundaries
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Last week, US Senator Dick Durbin sent Baidu's CEO, Robin Li, an open letter urging him to protect human rights and stop censoring search results. Durbin said he was working on legislation that would require technology companies to protect human rights or face liability.
Baidu, the largest search engine company in China, is yet to respond to the letter. Nevertheless, there is a smell of gunpowder in the air. During the two-day US-China human rights talks in late April, the longstanding chasm between both sides remained unbridged. The subject finds a place in the agenda of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, beginning today. In this context, Durbin's lashing out at Baidu appears to be a case of deliberate finger-pointing by the US.
In Western eyes, on the subject of Internet censorship, China is seen as public enemy No1. However, China is not the sole target. Since last year, Australia, which imposed tough Internet filters, has been rebuked in the US and other Western countries for being on a "slippery slope." Warnings have been sounded in some quarters that legislations in different countries would balkanize the World Wide Web.
Should the Internet be a "boundless media" across the globe? The answer is: No. Not as long as vast differences between nations remain.
Since the day it entered China, the Internet stands out for being suffused with Western cultural and political values. These fit well within Western social and political ecology, but China is unable to abruptly adapt to the primitive ecology of the Internet. Both the Web and the nation have to adapt to each other and make the required changes.
Thanks to the advent of the Internet, China has seen many positive changes. Weibo, China's Twitter, now spreads public opinion at the speed of light. More than a few local judicial cases, which might have concluded quietly, stirred up national debate and ended in a very different way.
The 450 million Chinese netizens – more than the US population – enjoy unprecedented freedom in cyberspace for all kinds of expression and public appeal.
However, Internet has to fit in China's grand scheme of social management. As a nation that requires to make the most of chances for rapid growth, ensuring general stability in the Internet era is a serious challenge facing the government. The Internet has to wrestle with the social reality here and be integrated with local regulations and laws.
Baidu, as an Internet service provider, is obliged to lead and enforce the integration and not simply imitate US standards.
China needs to explore more effective Internet regulation measures to replace some of the outdated restrictions in place on Monday. Such measures should be based on China's conditions and needs, and cannot be the result of a one-size-fits-all approach that copies rules made in the US.
