Greg Austin - Cyber Policy in China

Table of Contents

China Today series

Copyright Greg Austin 2014

The right of Greg Austin to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2014 by Polity Press

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ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-6979-3

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-6980-9 (pb)

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-8588-5 (epub)

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-8587-8 (mobi)

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This book is dedicated to Angelica and Elvira.

Tables

Priorities of the NIP, 20062020

Nine ideal values for an information society

Start-up dates for public Chinese internet platforms, 19971999

Start-up dates for public Chinese internet platforms, 2000 onwards

Selected additional international policy milestones, 2000

Chronology

Preface

The internet came to the public in China in 1995. Twenty years later, China has the biggest population of netizens in the world; it has become the world's biggest producer of desktop computers; and two of its telecommunications equipment providers are among the world's largest. Is China on a pathway to dominance in cyberspace? It could be. Yet, as impressive as those few manifestations of China's digital prowess are, they can be viewed as part of a much bigger canvas the idea of an information society. This concept predates the creation of the internet by several decades and is defined by many features much more wide-ranging in scope than the sorts of measures just mentioned.

The idea of an information society evolved from an earlier concept of information economy or knowledge economy. In 1962, economist Fritz Machlup estimated for the first time the monetary value of knowledge production in the United States and how this form of production had transformed the economy (Machlup 1962). By the early 1970s, various commentaries on his work had elaborated on the concept of the knowledge economy and information economy, portending an information revolution every bit as transformative in social and political terms as the industrial revolution.