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Original Articles

[email protected]? The challenges to the emancipatory potential of the net: Lessons from China and Malaysia

Pages 99-114 | Published online: 25 Aug 2010

References

  • An earlier version of this article, entitled '[email protected]? Vehicle for political change and transformation, elite playground or new commercial frontier?' was presented at the International Studies Association Annual Convention, Los Angeles, 14-18 March 2000 and supported by an overseas conference grant from the British Academy.
  • Perrit , D H Jr . 1998 . "The internet as a threat to sovereignty? Thoughts on the internet's role in the national and global governance' . Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies , 5 (2) : 431
  • Warf , B. and Grimes , J . 1997 . 'Counterhegemonic discourses and the internet' . The Geographical Review , 87 (2) : 261
  • Lefebvre , Henri . 1991 . The Production of Space , Oxford : Basil Blackwell .
  • Sassen , Saslda . 1998 . On the internet and sovereignty' . Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies , 5 (2) : 545 – 559 .
  • Warf and Grimes . “ Counterhegemonic discourses and the internet ” . 263
  • Green , S . 2000 . "The pen, the sword and the networked computer' . The World Today , March : 13 – 15 .
  • Huntington , Samuel . 1991 . The Third Wave Democratisation in the late Twentieth Century , Norman , OK : University of Oklahoma Press .
  • Rueschemeyer , E , Stephens , E H and Stephens , J D . 1992 . Capitalist Development and Democracy , Cambridge : Polity Press .
  • Lawrence , S . 1999 . 'Surf's up' . Far Eastern Economic Review , 4 March : 10 – 12 . The central government has invested heavily in telephone lines and announced programmes to get 80 of local authorities and 80 of companies online by the end of 2001
  • Figure courtesy of NUA Internet Surveys, 2000, accessed 25 July 2000.
  • Shaw , J C . 1998 . 'Internet censorship in China' . Online Journalism Review , 6 May http://oir.usc.edu/
  • Lawrence , S . 1999 . 'Widening web' . Far Eastern Economic Review , 18 November : 54 – 55 . Ibid; and
  • By March 1999 some 400,000 email accounts had been opened with 263. net. (Shaw, 'Internet censorship in China').
  • For more information see Lawrence, 'Widening web'.
  • Green . “ 'The pen, the second and the networked computer' ” . 14
  • Cited in Shaw, 'Internet censorship in China'.
  • 1998 . 'China "blocks" BBC website' . BBC News Online Network , 12 October http://news.bbc.co.uk.
  • Ibid; and Shaw, 'Internet censorship in China'.
  • In its report on China's blocking of its main website, , the BBC reported that other sites operated by its online service from other addresses continued to be available. BBC News Online, 12 October 1998) www.bbc.co.uk (www.bbc.co.uk)
  • Joy Shaw reported that the Voice of America site was blocked between September 1996 and January 1997, accessible until August and then blcoked again. Shaw, 'Internet censorship in China'.
  • Kenneth Farrall, president of a China-based Internet consultancy, quoted in ibid.
  • Holland , Lorien . 2000 . Beijing correspondent . Far Eastern Economic Review , 4 ( 8 ) 9 March E-interviews with and with Madanmohan Rao, internet consultant and journalist based in Bangalore, India, who writes for the Economic Times newspaper and Electronic Markets magazine, 8 March 2000
  • http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/4422/. (http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/4422/.)
  • Fromson , M . 1998 . 'China and the internet: people will talk' . Online Journalism Review , 4 July http:// ojr.usc.edu/
  • http://www.geocities.com/Silicon Valley/Bay/5598/index.html (http://www.geocities.com/Silicon Valley/Bay/5598/index.html)
  • Fromson, 'China and the internet'.
  • Bickers , C. and Lawrence , S . 1999 . 'A great firewall: surge in networking creates new security needs' . Far Eastern Economic Review , 4 March : 14
  • Hewitt , D . 1999 . 'China casts a cyber net' . BBC News Online Network , 7 February http://news.bbc.co.uk.
  • Hewitt , D . 1999 . 'China plays net nanny' . BBC News Online Network , 12 February http://news.bbc.co.uk.
  • 2000 . 'China cracks down on internet cafes' . BBC News Online Network , 2 February http://news.bbc.co.uk
  • Cooke , K . 1999 . "The complex web of Falun Gong' . BBC News Online Network , 22 July http:// news.bbc.co.uk. See also http://www.falundafa.org/
  • 1999 . 'China bans internet investment' . BBC News Online Network , 15 September http://news.bbc.co.uk.
  • Holland , L and Saywell , T . 2000 . 'Plugging a sieve: Beijing faces frustration in its bid to regulate the internet' . Far Eastern Economic Review , 10 February : 20
  • Holland and Saywell . “ 'Plugging a si ere' ” . 20 – 21 . This latter ban followed a government ban on purchases of Microsoft Windows 2000 (January 2000). The Chinese authorities are concerned that Microsoft products contain hidden back doors and, because the nature of MS software is such that programmers can't access the underlying source codes, such claims are impossible to corroborate. "The pen the sword and the networked computer' Green, pp 14-15; 'China cracks down an internet cafés'.
  • Fromson, 'China and the internet'.
  • Abbott , Jason P . 2000 . 'Bittersweet victory, the 1999 Malaysian General Election and the Anwar Ibrahim affair . The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs , 354 : 245 – 258 . In Malaysia all the main newspapers and TV stations are either state-owned or closely connected to the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the dominant political partner in the governing coalition. In addition The Official Secrets Act gives the government punitive powers to prosecute any journalist who publishes official information without authorisation. For more detail see
  • Everard , Jerry . 1999 . Virtual States , 60 London : Routledge . For an analysis of government attempts to control the internet in Singapore
  • Rodan , Gary . 1998 . 'The internet and political control in Singapore' . Political Science Quarterly , 113 (1) : 63 – 89 .
  • Zain , Sabri . 10 August 1999 . “ 'How the internet is moulding public opinion in Malaysia' ” . 10 August , posted on GERAK-NET
  • Telephone interview with Anil, Editor of Aliran (a Malaysian politics and human rights periodical) 27 April 2000, Kuala Lumpur.
  • MGG Pillai, quoted in Zain 'How the internet is mouldling public opinion'.
  • Jayasankaran , S . 2000 . Testing the limits: web paper takes Mahathir's word on free speech on-line' . Far Eastern Economic Review , 20 January : 18 – 19 .
  • 2000 . 'Harakah cannot have internet version more than twice a month' . Bernama , 2 March
  • Graves , N . 2000 . 'Malaysia says it will not censor the net' . Reuters Online , 3 March Interview with MGC Pillai, 7 March 2000. Chor subsequently said that the government hoped PAS would not abuse the government policy of not censoring the internet. see, http://live.altavista.com/scripts/editorial.dll?ei =lS60288&ern=y 2000; and 'Harahah cannot have internet version'.
  • The origins of the net can be traced to the immediate aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Concerned about the possible impact of a limited nuclear strike upon the US communications infrastructure the US Air Force sponsored a study by the RAND corporation on how to maintain communications in such an event. Paul Baran's response (1962) laid the foundations for the first network of information message processors by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department of Defense in 1969 (Apranet). For further details see Everard, Virtual States, esp ch. 2).
  • Warf and Grimes . “ 'Counterhegenomic discourses and the internet' ” . 262
  • Iamasia Survey, 22 June 200, accessed 1 July 2000.
  • World Development Report 1998/99, accessed online at http://www.worldbank.org/. (http://www.worldbank.org/.)
  • Ibid.
  • http://www.idcresearch.com/. (http://www.idcresearch.com/.)
  • For data on the language of internet users see "The global reach express', (accessed 2 August 2000); and 'CyberAtlas' http://glreach.com/eng/ed/gre/ 230400.php3 (http://glreach.com/eng/ed/gre/ 230400.php3)
  • (accessed 2 August 2000). http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big pict … aphics/ print/0,1323.5901 408521.00.htm (http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big pict … aphics/ print/0,1323.5901 408521.00.htm)
  • Sassen . “ On the internet and sovereignty' ” . 552
  • http://www nua.ie/surveys/how many online/index.html. (http://www nua.ie/surveys/how many online/index.html.)
  • Of these about a third are Japanese users, 13 South Korean, 9 Australian and 6 Taiwanese. If we take Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand out of the figures, there are only 21 million users in the Asia-Pacific ( http://www.nua.ie/surveys/how many online/index.html. (http://www.nua.ie/surveys/how many online/index.html.)
  • Doole , C . 2000 . 'Is the web widening the poverty gap?' . BBC News Online Network , 29 January http://news.bbc.co.uk.
  • Everard . Virtual States 34
  • See rru, (p 5 of 7). A similar feat was achieved in Latin America by Paraguay and Venezuela in 1999, while Uganda and the Ivory Coast became the first African countries to achieve a 50 penetration rate, rru p. 6 of 7. http:/Avww.uu.int/journal/20000&E/html/indicat.ktm (http:/Avww.uu.int/journal/20000&E/html/indicat.ktm)
  • Everard . Virtual States 66 (my emphasis)
  • Castells , Manuel . 1996 . The Rise of the Network Society , 133 Oxford : Blackwell .
  • Everard . Virtual Suites 35
  • 2000 . The Asian Age , 9 March E-Interview with V G Jaideep, senior correspondent for Indian daily newspapers
  • Sassen . “ On the internet and sovereignty' ” . 548
  • Kalish , D E . 1999 . 'Global companies form group to curb government regulation of Internet' . Naples Daily News , 16 January http://law.about.com/newsissues/law/gi/dyanmic/offsite.htm7site =http://www.naplesnews. com/today/business/d 297418a.htm
  • Sassen . “ On the internet and sovereignty' ” . 556
  • As Sassen notes, while these technologies may not be that expensive, they still involve costs that cannot be afforded by the underfunded sectors of civil society. Ibid, p. 557.
  • Gates , B . 1995 . The Road Ahead , 100 New York : Viking .
  • Dawson , M and Foster , B . 'Virtual capitalism: the political economy of the information highway' . Monthly Review , 48 (3) 55
  • Sassen, On the internet and sovereignty'.
  • Warf and Grimes . “ 'Counterhegemonic discourses and the internet' ” . 270
  • Computer Industry Almanac, http://www.c-i-a.com/. (http://www.c-i-a.com/.)

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