In other words, the Great Firewall of China, along with similar efforts by other governments similarly inclined to control (as all governments tend to be), may well succeed in carving out what was "conceived as one global medium, by its nature open and free…into a system of Balkanized national networks," warns Tim Wu in Slate.

A University of Virginia Law School associate professor who teaches intellectual property and international trade, Wu sketches the sinister outlines of the Chinese government's efforts to at once censor and filter the internet and its tools, including search; direct public opinion, using chatrooms and blogs; and alter the very technology and infrastructure of the 'net within the state.

Wu writes, "Within China, the Web looks more and more like a giant office network every day, centralized by design…. This massive internal network will be fast, but it will also be built by a single, state-owned company and easy to filter at every step…. China will soon be like a country with a great internal transport system but few roads leading in or out. The goal is an inward-looking network that is physically disconnected from the rest of the world."

Wu forewarns that we're just now beginning to fathom that what China wants is the illusion of freedom for the internet so that it may act as an engine of economic growth without threatening the Communist Party's power. And that "portends a future for the Web that we're only beginning to understand - one in which powerful countries refashion the global network to suit themselves."

Anarchists protesting at the G8 Summit in Scotland would likely agree with the international trade professor's critique.

MarketingVOX on China: The Year of the Links

- MSN Spaces: No Room for 'Democracy' or 'Freedom' in China
- China Requires Blog Registration
- U.S. Internet Giants Come Knocking as China Lowers Barriers
- New MSN Web Portal Is Entryway into China Market
- Three-Blog Chinese 'Empire' Set to Expand
- eBay and Yahoo Take Aim at an Online China
- Google's Censorship in China Worked, Wins Favor
- China Censorship Working; Google, Workers Happy
- China Cracks Down Further on Net Expression
- WPP Flaunts its Unique Power to Buy Chinese Agencies
- China Closes Thousands of Internet Cafes
- Report: Chinese Search Market at $114MM
- China Net Commerce Fettered by Lack of Consumer Credit
- New Biz Search Engine to Bow from China
- Yahoo Spreads Ad-Based Email Through China
- CNET China Purchase Not Sitting Well with Proles
- China Suffers Censorship Setback
- Google: Our Censorship is China's Fault
- Google Aiding China in Muzzling Press
- China's Keystone Web Kops at It Again
- Amazon Buys Chinese Book Retailer
- China Hones Net Monitors on Pornography
- Chinese Search Engine Launched
- China Announces Mystery IP Protocol
- Chinese Online Ads Top Billion Yuan
- China Shortens Online Expression Leash
- Yahoo Launches Chinese Search Site
- China: Internet Bad for Teen Minds
- China Censors Two Major Blog Sites