Michael Anti: Behind the Great Firewall of China マイケル・アンチグレート・ファイアウォールの向こう側 Michael Anti: Por detrás da Grande Firewall da China Майкл Анти: За Великим китайским файерволом

In the past several days, I heard people talking about China. In den letzten Tagen hörte ich Leute über China sprechen.

And also, I talked to friends about China and Chinese Internet. Außerdem habe ich mit Freunden über China und das chinesische Internet gesprochen. Something is very challenging to me. I want to make my friends understand: China is complicated. Ich möchte meinen Freunden verständlich machen: China ist kompliziert. So I always want to tell the story, like, one hand it is that, the other hand is that. Also möchte ich immer die Geschichte erzählen, zum einen ist es das, zum anderen ist es das. You can't just tell a one sided story. Man kann nicht einfach eine einseitige Geschichte erzählen. I'll give an example. China is a BRIC country. China ist ein BRIC-Land. BRIC country means Brazil, Russia, India and China. This emerging economy really is helping the revival of the world economy. Diese aufstrebende Wirtschaft trägt wirklich zur Wiederbelebung der Weltwirtschaft bei. Esta economia emergente realmente está ajudando o renascimento da economia mundial. But at the same time, on the other hand, China is a SICK country, the terminology coined by Facebook IPO papers -- file. Gleichzeitig ist China ein krankes Land, die Terminologie, die von den IPO-Papieren von Facebook geprägt wurde. He said the SICK country means Syria, Iran, China and North Korea. Er sagte, das kranke Land bedeute Syrien, Iran, China und Nordkorea. The four countries have no access to Facebook. Die vier Länder haben keinen Zugang zu Facebook. So basically, China is a SICK BRIC country. China ist also im Grunde ein SICK BRIC-Land.

(Laughter)

Another project was built up to watch China and Chinese Internet. Ein weiteres Projekt wurde aufgebaut, um China und das chinesische Internet zu beobachten. And now, today I want to tell you my personal observation in the past several years, from that wall. Und jetzt, heute, möchte ich Ihnen meine persönliche Beobachtung in den letzten Jahren von dieser Wand aus erzählen. So, if you are a fan of the Game of Thrones, you definitely know how important a big wall is for an old kingdom. Wenn Sie ein Fan des Game of Thrones sind, wissen Sie definitiv, wie wichtig eine große Mauer für ein altes Königreich ist. It prevents weird things from the north. Es verhindert seltsame Dinge aus dem Norden.

Same was true for China. Gleiches galt für China. In the north, there was a great wall, Chang Cheng. Im Norden gab es eine große Mauer, Chang Cheng. It protected China from invaders for 2,000 years. But China also has a great firewall. China hat aber auch eine großartige Firewall. Mas a China também tem um ótimo firewall. That's the biggest digital boundary in the whole world. Das ist die größte digitale Grenze der Welt. It's not only to defend the Chinese regime from overseas, from the universal values, but also to prevent China's own citizens to access the global free Internet, and even separate themselves into blocks, not united. Es geht nicht nur darum, das chinesische Regime vor Übersee vor den universellen Werten zu schützen, sondern auch darum, Chinas eigene Bürger daran zu hindern, auf das globale freie Internet zuzugreifen und sich sogar in nicht vereinte Blöcke zu trennen. Não é apenas defender o regime chinês do exterior, dos valores universais, mas também impedir que os cidadãos da China acessem a Internet global gratuita e até se separem em blocos, não unidos. So, basically the "Internet" has two Internets. One is the Internet, the other is the Chinanet. But if you think the Chinanet is something like a deadland, wasteland, I think it's wrong. Aber wenn Sie denken, dass das Chinanet so etwas wie ein totes Ödland ist, denke ich, dass es falsch ist. But we also use a very simple metaphor, the cat and the mouse game, to describe in the past 15 years the continuing fight between Chinese censorship, government censorship, the cat, and the Chinese Internet users. Wir verwenden aber auch eine sehr einfache Metapher, das Katz- und Mausspiel, um in den letzten 15 Jahren den anhaltenden Kampf zwischen chinesischer Zensur, Regierungszensur, Katze und chinesischen Internetnutzern zu beschreiben. That means us, the mouse. Das heißt wir, die Maus. But sometimes this kind of a metaphor is too simple. Aber manchmal ist diese Art von Metapher zu einfach.

So today I want to upgrade it to 2.0 version. Deshalb möchte ich es heute auf die Version 2.0 aktualisieren. In China, we have 500 million Internet users. That's the biggest population of Netizens, Internet users, in the whole world. Das ist die größte Population von Internetnutzern, Internetnutzern, auf der ganzen Welt. So even though China's is a totally censored Internet, but still, Chinese Internet society is really booming. Obwohl Chinas Internet völlig zensiert ist, boomt die chinesische Internetgesellschaft wirklich. How to make it? Wie man es macht? It's simple. You have Google, we have Baidu. You have Twitter, we have Weibo. You have Facebook, we have Renren. You have YouTube, we have Youku and Tudou. The Chinese government blocked every single international Web 2.0 service, and we Chinese copycat every one. Die chinesische Regierung hat jeden einzelnen internationalen Web 2.0-Dienst blockiert, und wir chinesischen Nachahmer jeden.

(Laughter)

So, that's the kind of the thing I call smart censorship. So etwas nenne ich intelligente Zensur. That's not only to censor you. Das soll dich nicht nur zensieren. Sometimes this Chinese national Internet policy is very simple: Block and clone. Manchmal ist diese nationale Internetpolitik Chinas sehr einfach: Blockieren und Klonen. On the one hand, he wants to satisfy people's need of a social network, which is very important; people really love social networking. Einerseits möchte er die Bedürfnisse der Menschen nach einem sozialen Netzwerk befriedigen, was sehr wichtig ist. Menschen lieben soziale Netzwerke. But on the other hand, they want to keep the server in Beijing so they can access the data any time they want. Andererseits möchten sie den Server in Peking behalten, damit sie jederzeit auf die Daten zugreifen können. That's also the reason Google was pulled out from China, because they can't accept the fact that Chinese government wants to keep the server. Das ist auch der Grund, warum Google aus China zurückgezogen wurde, weil sie nicht akzeptieren können, dass die chinesische Regierung den Server behalten will. Sometimes the Arab dictators didn't understand these two hands. Manchmal verstanden die arabischen Diktatoren diese beiden Hände nicht. Às vezes, os ditadores árabes não entendiam essas duas mãos. For example, Mubarak, he shut down the Internet. Zum Beispiel, Mubarak, hat er das Internet geschlossen. Por exemplo, Mubarak, ele desligou a Internet. He wanted to prevent the Netizens [from criticizing] him. Er wollte verhindern, dass die Internetnutzer ihn kritisierten. But once Netizens can't go online, they go in the street. Aber sobald Netizens nicht online gehen können, gehen sie auf die Straße. And now the result is very simple. Und jetzt ist das Ergebnis sehr einfach. We all know Mubarak is technically dead. Wir alle wissen, dass Mubarak technisch tot ist. But also, Ben Ali, Tunisian president, didn't follow the second rule. Aber auch Ben Ali, tunesischer Präsident, folgte nicht der zweiten Regel. That means keep the server in your hands. Das heißt, halten Sie den Server in Ihren Händen. He allowed Facebook, a U.S.-based service, to continue to stay on inside of Tunisia. Er erlaubte Facebook, einem in den USA ansässigen Dienst, weiterhin in Tunesien zu bleiben. So he can't prevent it, his own citizens to post critical videos against his corruption. Also kann er es nicht verhindern, dass seine eigenen Bürger kritische Videos gegen seine Korruption posten. The same thing happend. Das gleiche passierte. He was the first to topple during the Arab Spring. Er war der erste, der während des Arabischen Frühlings stürzte.

But those two very smart international censorship policies didn't prevent Chinese social media [from] becoming a really public sphere, a pathway of public opinion and the nightmare of Chinese officials. Diese beiden sehr intelligenten internationalen Zensurstrategien haben jedoch nicht verhindert, dass chinesische soziale Medien zu einer wirklich öffentlichen Sphäre, zu einem Weg der öffentlichen Meinung und zum Albtraum chinesischer Beamter wurden. Because we have 300 million microbloggers in China. Weil wir in China 300 Millionen Microblogger haben. It's the entire population of the United States. Es ist die gesamte Bevölkerung der Vereinigten Staaten. So when these 300 million people, microbloggers, even they block the tweet in our censored platform. Wenn diese 300 Millionen Menschen, Microblogger, sogar den Tweet in unserer zensierten Plattform blockieren. But itself -- the Chinanet -- but itself can create very powerful energy, which has never happened in the Chinese history. Aber selbst - das Chinanet - kann selbst sehr mächtige Energie erzeugen, was in der chinesischen Geschichte noch nie passiert ist.

2011, in July, two [unclear] trains crashed, in Wenzhou, a southern city. 2011, im Juli, stürzten zwei [unklare] Züge in Wenzhou, einer südlichen Stadt, ab. Right after the train crash, authorities literally wanted to cover up the train, bury the train. Unmittelbar nach dem Zugunglück wollten die Behörden den Zug buchstäblich vertuschen und den Zug begraben. Logo após o acidente de trem, as autoridades literalmente queriam encobrir o trem, enterrá-lo. So it angered the Chinese Netizens. The first five days after the train crash, there were 10 million criticisms of the posting on social media, which never happened in Chinese history. In den ersten fünf Tagen nach dem Zugunglück gab es 10 Millionen Kritikpunkte an der Veröffentlichung in sozialen Medien, die in der chinesischen Geschichte nie vorgekommen sind. And later this year, the rail minister was sacked and sentenced to jail for 10 years. E ainda este ano, o ministro do setor ferroviário foi demitido e condenado à prisão por 10 anos.

And also, recently, very funny debate between the Beijing Environment Ministry and the American Embassy in Beijing because the Ministry blamed the American Embassy for intervening in Chinese internal politics by disclosing the air quality data of Beijing. Und kürzlich auch eine sehr lustige Debatte zwischen dem Umweltministerium von Peking und der amerikanischen Botschaft in Peking, weil das Ministerium die amerikanische Botschaft beschuldigte, in die chinesische Innenpolitik eingegriffen zu haben, indem es die Luftqualitätsdaten von Peking offenlegte. So, the up is the Embassy data, the PM 2.5. Das Beste sind also die Botschaftsdaten, die PM 2.5. He showed 148, they showed it's dangerous for the sensitive group. Er zeigte 148, sie zeigten, dass es gefährlich für die sensible Gruppe ist. So a suggestion, it's not good to go outside. Ein Vorschlag, es ist nicht gut, nach draußen zu gehen. But that is the Ministry's data. Aber das sind die Daten des Ministeriums. He shows 50. He says it's good. It's good to go outside. But 99 percent of Chinese microbloggers stand firmly on the Embassy's side. Aber 99 Prozent der chinesischen Microblogger stehen fest auf der Seite der Botschaft. I live in Beijing. Every day, I just watch the American Embassy's data to decide whether I should open my window. Jeden Tag schaue ich mir nur die Daten der amerikanischen Botschaft an, um zu entscheiden, ob ich mein Fenster öffnen soll. Why is Chinese social networking, even within the censorship, so booming? Warum boomt das chinesische soziale Netzwerk selbst innerhalb der Zensur so stark? Part of the reason is Chinese languages. Ein Teil des Grundes sind chinesische Sprachen. You know, Twitter and Twitter clones have a kind of a limitation of 140 characters. Sie wissen, Twitter und Twitter-Klone haben eine Art Beschränkung von 140 Zeichen. But in English it's 20 words or a sentence with a short link. Mas em inglês são 20 palavras ou uma frase com um link curto. Maybe in Germany, in German language, it may be just "Aha! " Vielleicht ist es in Deutschland in deutscher Sprache nur "Aha!" Talvez na Alemanha, no idioma alemão, possa ser apenas "Aha!" (Laughter)

But in Chinese language, it's really about 140 characters, means a paragraph, a story. Aber in der chinesischen Sprache sind es wirklich 140 Zeichen, was einen Absatz, eine Geschichte bedeutet. You can almost have all the journalistic elements there. Sie können fast alle journalistischen Elemente dort haben. For example, this is Hamlet, of Shakespeare. Por exemplo, este é Hamlet, de Shakespeare. It's the same content. Es ist der gleiche Inhalt. One, you can see exactly one Chinese tweet is equal to 3.5 English tweets. Erstens können Sie sehen, dass genau ein chinesischer Tweet 3,5 englischen Tweets entspricht. Chinese is always cheating, right? Chinesisch betrügt immer, oder? So because of this, the Chinese really regard this microblogging as a media, not only a headline to media. Aus diesem Grund betrachten die Chinesen dieses Microblogging wirklich als Medium, nicht nur als Überschrift für Medien. Por isso, os chineses realmente consideram esse microblog como uma mídia, não apenas como uma manchete para a mídia.

And also, the clone, Sina company is the guy who cloned Twitter. Und auch der Klon Sina Company ist der Typ, der Twitter geklont hat. It even has its own name, with Weibo. Es hat sogar einen eigenen Namen mit Weibo. "Weibo" is the Chinese translation for "microblog". It has its own innovation. Es hat seine eigene Innovation. At the commenting area, [it makes] the Chinese Weibo more like Facebook, rather than the original Twitter. Im Kommentarbereich ähnelt das chinesische Weibo eher Facebook als dem ursprünglichen Twitter. So these innovations and clones, as the Weibo and microblogging, when it came to China in 2009, it immediately became a media platform itself. Diese Innovationen und Klone, wie das Weibo und das Microblogging, als es 2009 nach China kam, wurden sofort selbst zu einer Medienplattform. It became the media platform of 300 million readers. Es wurde zur Medienplattform von 300 Millionen Lesern. It became the media. Es wurde zu den Medien. Anything not mentioned in Weibo, it does not appear to exist for the Chinese public. Alles, was in Weibo nicht erwähnt wird, scheint für die chinesische Öffentlichkeit nicht zu existieren.

But also, Chinese social media is really changing Chinese mindsets and Chinese life. Aber auch die chinesischen sozialen Medien verändern die chinesische Denkweise und das chinesische Leben wirklich. For example, they give the voiceless people a channel to make your voice heard. Zum Beispiel geben sie den stimmlosen Menschen einen Kanal, über den Ihre Stimme gehört werden kann. We had a petition system. It's a remedy outside the judicial system, because the Chinese central government wants to keep a myth: The emperor is good. Es ist ein Mittel außerhalb des Justizsystems, weil die chinesische Zentralregierung einen Mythos bewahren will: Der Kaiser ist gut. The old local officials are thugs. Die alten örtlichen Beamten sind Schläger. So that's why the petitioner, the victims, the peasants, want to take the train to Beijing to petition to the central government, they want the emperor to settle the problem. Deshalb wollen der Petent, die Opfer, die Bauern mit dem Zug nach Peking fahren, um eine Petition an die Zentralregierung zu richten. Sie wollen, dass der Kaiser das Problem löst. But when more and more people go to Beijing, they also cause the risk of a revolution. Aber wenn immer mehr Menschen nach Peking gehen, besteht auch die Gefahr einer Revolution. So they send them back in recent years. Also schicken sie sie in den letzten Jahren zurück. And even some of them were put into black jails. Und sogar einige von ihnen wurden in schwarze Gefängnisse gesteckt. E até alguns deles foram colocados em prisões negras. But now we have Weibo, so I call it the Weibo petition. Aber jetzt haben wir Weibo, also nenne ich es die Weibo-Petition. People just use their cell phones to tweet. Die Leute benutzen nur ihre Handys, um zu twittern.

So your sad stories, by some chance your story will be picked up by reporters, professors or celebrities. Also Ihre traurigen Geschichten, zufällig wird Ihre Geschichte von Reportern, Professoren oder Prominenten aufgegriffen. One of them is Yao Chen, she is the most popular microblogger in China, who has about 21 million followers. Eine von ihnen ist Yao Chen, sie ist die beliebteste Microbloggerin in China und hat ungefähr 21 Millionen Follower. They're almost like a national TV station. Sie sind fast wie ein nationaler Fernsehsender. If you -- so a sad story will be picked up by her. So this Weibo social media, even in the censorship, still gave the Chinese a real chance for 300 million people every day chatting together, talking together. Diese sozialen Medien von Weibo gaben den Chinesen selbst in der Zensur immer noch eine echte Chance für 300 Millionen Menschen, sich jeden Tag miteinander zu unterhalten. It's like a big TED, right? But also, it is like the first time a public sphere happened in China. Chinese people start to learn how to negotiate and talk to people.

But also, the cat, the censorship, is not sleeping. It's so hard to post some sensitive words on the Chinese Weibo. For example, you can't post the name of the president, Hu Jintao, and also you can't post the city of Chongqing, the name, and until recently, you can't search the surname of top leaders. So, the Chinese are very good at these puns and alternative wording and even memes. Portanto, os chineses são muito bons com esses trocadilhos, expressões alternativas e até memes. They even name themselves -- you know, use the name of this world-changing battle between the grass-mud horse and the river crab. Eles até se autodenominam - você sabe, use o nome dessa batalha que muda o mundo entre o cavalo de lama da grama e o caranguejo do rio. The grass-mud horse is caoníma, is the phonogram for motherfucker, the Netizens call themselves. O cavalo de lama da grama é caoníma, é o fonograma para filho da puta, os internautas se autodenominam. River crab is héxiè, is the phonogram for harmonization, for censorship. O caranguejo fluvial é o héxiè, é o fonograma da harmonização, da censura. So that's kind of a caoníma versus the héxiè, that's very good. So, when some very political, exciting moments happened, you can see on Weibo, you see a lot of very weird stories happened. Weird phrases and words, even if you have a PhD of Chinese language, you can't understand them. Frases e palavras estranhas, mesmo se você tiver um doutorado em chinês, não poderá entendê-las. But you can't even expand more, no, because Chinese Sina Weibo, when it was founded was exactly one month after the official blocking of Twitter.com. That means from the very beginning, Weibo has already convinced the Chinese government, we will not become the stage for any kind of a threat to the regime. For example, anything you want to post, like "get together" or "meet up" or "walk," it is automatically recorded and data mined and reported to a poll for further political analyzing. Even if you want to have some gathering, before you go there, the police are already waiting for you. Why? Because they have the data. They have everything in their hands. So they can use the 1984 scenario data mining of the dissident. Para que eles possam usar a mineração de dados do cenário de 1984 do dissidente. So the crackdown is very serious. Portanto, a repressão é muito séria.

But I want you to notice a very funny thing during the process of the cat-and-mouse. The cat is the censorship, but Chinese is not only one cat, but also has local cats. Central cat and local cats.

(Laughter)

You know, the server is in the [central] cats' hands, so even that -- when the Netizens criticize the local government, the local government has not any access to the data in Beijing. Você sabe, o servidor está nas mãos dos gatos [centrais], mesmo assim - quando os internautas criticam o governo local, o governo local não tem acesso aos dados em Pequim. Without bribing the central cats, he can do nothing, only apologize. Sem subornar os gatos centrais, ele não pode fazer nada, apenas se desculpar.

So these three years, in the past three years, social movements about microblogging really changed local government, became more and more transparent, because they can't access the data. The server is in Beijing. The story about the train crash, maybe the question is not about why 10 million criticisms in five days, but why the Chinese central government allowed the five days of freedom of speech online. It's never happened before. And so it's very simple, because even the top leaders were fed up with this guy, this independent kingdom. So they want an excuse -- public opinion is a very good excuse to punish him.

But also, the Bo Xilai case recently, very big news, he's a princeling. Mas também, recentemente, o caso Bo Xilai, uma notícia muito grande, ele é um príncipe. But from February to April this year, Weibo really became a marketplace of rumors. You can almost joke everything about these princelings, everything! It's almost like you're living in the United States. But if you dare to retweet or mention any fake coup about Beijing, you definitely will be arrested. So this kind of freedom is a targeted and precise window.

So Chinese in China, censorship is normal. Something you find is, freedom is weird. Something will happen behind it. Because he was a very popular Leftist leader, so the central government wanted to purge him, and he was very cute, he convinced all the Chinese people, why he is so bad. So Weibo, the 300 million public sphere, became a very good, convenient tool for a political fight.

But this technology is very new, but technically is very old. It was made famous by Chairman Mao, Mao Zedong, because he mobilized millions of Chinese people in the Cultural Revolution to destroy every local government. It's very simple, because Chinese central government doesn't need to even lead the public opinion. They just give them a target window to not censor people. Not censoring in China has become a political tool.

So that's the update about this game, cat-and-mouse. Social media changed Chinese mindset. More and more Chinese intend to embrace freedom of speech and human rights as their birthright, not some imported American privilege. But also, it gave the Chinese a national public sphere for people to, it's like a training of their citizenship, preparing for future democracy. But it didn't change the Chinese political system, and also the Chinese central government utilized this centralized server structure to strengthen its power to counter the local government and the different factions. So, what's the future? After all, we are the mouse. Whatever the future is, we should fight against the [cat]. There is not only in China, but also in the United States there are some very small, cute but bad cats.

(Laughter)

SOPA, PIPA, ACTA, TPP and ITU. And also, like Facebook and Google, they claim they are friends of the mouse, but sometimes we see them dating the cats. So my conclusion is very simple. We Chinese fight for our freedom, you just watch your bad cats. Don't let them hook [up] with the Chinese cats. Não deixe que eles se relacionem com os gatos chineses. Only in this way, in the future, we will achieve the dreams of the mouse: that we can tweet anytime, anywhere, without fear.

(Applause)

Thank you.

(Applause)