Internet censorship in China put to the test

Amnesty International is calling on Australians to help monitor access to key websites in China over the coming months, to test the extent of Government control over the internet. Amnesty International's China Internet Censorship Index (CICI) is a unique web tool designed to collect data and highlight China's censorship framework known as the 'Great Firewall'. "This tool will help us monitor exactly which sites are blocked and where in China, from now until the end of the year," said China Campaign Coordinator Sophie Peer. The CICI generates a daily index which decreases when fewer websites are successfully accessed, and increases when more websites are available. Data is collected in a number of ways; automated tests run every three hours checking site availability via proxy servers in China, manual tests are run by... [read full story]