Knight Ridder News Service

Jul. 24, 2005

SHANGHAI, China - To get an inkling of how China controls and sanitizes the Internet experience, it helps to step into any Internet café in Shanghai.

Each incoming user must give a name and address, then hand over identification to a clerk. Closed-circuit TV cameras monitor from overhead. Every computer terminal is loaded with software to track all activity. If a user heads toward a prohibited website, café employees know right away.

''A blinking light goes off,'' said Lin Fusheng, owner of the sprawling Shigong Network café, off Shanghai's main pedestrian walkway.

The software also alerts authorities at a Shanghai municipal security post across town, and inspectors eventually may drop in to check on the infractions.

These are only a few of the security measures that have created what some call a Great Fire Wall around the world's fastest-growing population of Internet users. China pours huge resources into filtering online content, stifling anything that might threaten Communist Party rule.

Sixty-four Internet users languish in prison for their writings. China blocks access to tens of thousands of websites, restricts Web searches and demands that all domestic websites and Web logs register with the government or face closure.

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