Great Firewall

The term Great Firewall was coined to describe the massive and sophisticated Internet-filtering system used in China, which blocks the populace from viewing online content hosted in other [Page 407]countries that censors deemed to be harmful to the nation. Anything that falls into this category of foreign online content is automatically and instantaneously filtered out by the Great Firewall without the need for review or the possibility of redress. In addition to highly restrictive domestic Internet regulations and a high number of Internet police, the Great Firewall has become an integral part of the Chinese government’s oversight of information flow as well as a major pillar of China’s Internet censorship and surveillance mechanism. It is widely believed that the Great Firewall forms part of China’s ...