The Great (Fire)Wall of China: Internet Security and Information Policy
Issues
in the People's Republic of China

William Yurcik* Ravi Sandhu** Zixiang Tan***
University of Pittsburgh George Mason University Syracuse
University


ABSTRACT:
In an attempt to tighten control over information flow, the People's
Republic of China (PRC) has initiated a clamp-down policy on Internet
users. This policy has resulted in several 1996 government regulations
including a circular issued by the Ministry of Public Security on February
14,
1996 which ordered all users of Internet and other international computer
networks to register with the police. This registration approach is also
being complemented with a technology approach so as to ensure control over
the information flow in PRC's fledgling computer networks. The technology
approach includes "firewall" technology which will be used to create a
national "intranet" likely to become the largest intranet in the world if
implemented successfully.

This paper will discuss the concepts of firewalls and intranets, public
policy issues concerning information security and censorship in the PRC, the

state of awareness of insecurity of present-generation computer networks in
the PRC, security planning for future information systems, specific
technologies
that PRC professionals hold promising, and unique problems in the PRC
context.
This research is a result of a United States Computer Security Delegation
which visited PRC May 18, 1996 - May 31, 1996 at the invitation of the
Chinese Association for Science and Technology (CAST). Dr. Ravi Sandhu,
Chairman of the ACM's Special Interest Group on Security, Audit, and Control

(SIGSAC) lead the delegation (which also included Mr. Yurcik) in
professional exchanges. We expect that recent tensions due to the
handover of Hong Kong and democratic elections in Taiwan will accentuate
the relevance of these findings.



* corresponding author: yurcik@tele.pitt.edu +1 412-421-3015
FAX +1 412-624-2788 mailing address: University of Pittsburgh, Department
of Information Science and Telecommunications, 742 LIS Bldg., 135 North
Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 15260 USA

** Professor and Associate Chairman, Information and Software Systems
Engineering (ISSE) Department, George Mason University and Chairman ACM
Special Interest Group on Security, Audit, and Control (SIGSAC)

*** Assistant Professor, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University

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