In the last few days of 2007, two government ministries, SARFT and MII, announced a new set of rules to govern online video websites like Tudou,com, Youku.com, 56.com and other Youtube clones.
On December 29, Beijing-based telcoms consulting firm Marbridge published an English translation of the rules (original Chinese version here).
On January 2, Kaiser Kuo posted these thoughts on the Digital Watch blog:
My gut take on this is that it’s more about holding these video sharing and P2P companies responsible for naughty content than about trying to shake- or shut down the industry.
This makes sense and is consistent with Internet regulatory patterns of the last few years.
This morning the mainstream media has picked up on the story, and Google News counts 222 different stories about the new laws. Many of the stories are guilty of rather gross simplifications, such as this story on staid old Bloomberg, whose reporters seem to have been told to sex up their China coverage:
China to Limit Web Broadcasting to State Operators
China, which outlaws criticism of the state, will ban Web sites that aren’t run by the government from broadcasting video or radio over the Internet.
Nonetheless, there is concern within China that the laws will destroy an industry in its infancy. David Bandurski of the China Media Project has summarized Chinese criticism of the rules (and censorship of such criticism) in the Oriental Morning Post and Southern Weekly: Internet censors move to quiet debate on new online video and audio regulations.