The great firewall of China : how to build and control an alternative version of the internet /

Cyberpessimism has replaced cyberoptimism. Griffiths (CNN International) chillingly details how China's massive, sophisticated, ferocious, and effective "Great Firewall" nullifies any online regime opposition. Control of the internet and social media by armies of censors and algorithms is "pervasive but unobtrusive," aimed at choking off potential solidarity or collective action such as protests or strikes. China's surveillance-state fears an unsupervised net. Clever techniques to circumvent the Firewall are blocked. China's social media platform Weibo briefly carried citizen criticism, snipped off by 2013, around the time Xi Jinping took power. Censors disconnect suspicious individuals, messages, blogs, or whole provinces. Bloggers self-censor or face arrest. Uyghur, Tibetan, and foreign sites are blocked, cowed, or hacked and spear-phished, including US industries and defenses. To fight heterodox ideas, China attempts to disconnect from the global internet in favor of Chinese platforms, techniques Russia and several African countries have adopted. Internet misuse pushes other countries toward national control. Displaying detailed and multisourced journalism, Griffiths deepens pessimism on China, cybersecurity, and democracy. The text confirms Evgeny Morozov's 2011 prediction that authorities will control the internet and suggests cyberspace is the new battlefield, where China is ahead. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty and professionals. --Michael G. Roskin, emeritus, Lycoming College