Ethics Case Studies » The Great Firewall of China

The Great Firewall of China

Gordon Hull / UNC Charlotte

1. Reading

Read James Fallows, “This Connection has been Reset,” Atlantic Monthly (March 2008)

2. Comprehension

  1. Great Wall of ChinaWhat are the four ways that Fallows says the Chinese system blocks Internet content?  What kinds of stuff do they block?
  2. What are two ways that anybody can get around it?
  3. Why does Fallows think China won’t ever try to shut down those ways?
  4. Why does he think Internet censorship in China is nonetheless effective?

3. Ethics of Censorship

  1. Is it ever ok for a national government to censor (block) access to certain places on the Internet?  Why or why not?
  2. What moral principles and values do you base your answer to #1 on?
  3. What values weigh on the other side?
  4. Why are the values you prioritize more important than the ones you don’t?

4. Ethics of Working for Cisco

  1. Is it moral to work for Cisco systems on the projects that developed Chinese Internet censoring technology?  Why or why not?
  2. What should employees who object on moral grounds to their company’s policies do about that?
  3. Do employees ever have an obligation to go public, and blow the whistle on employer practices with which they disagree?

5. Ethics of protesting (video)

  • Watch this video about the Billboard Liberation Front’s protest against Google’s complicity with the Firewall (note: this is somewhat dated, as Google’s policy has since changed)
  1. What values do the protestors claim to uphold?
  2. The BLF regularly trespasses and defaces billboards and otherwise interferes with property rights.  When is it justified to violate property rights as a form of political protest?
  3. Should such violations of property rights ever be legalized?  Why or why not?
  4. Why should we have free speech rights?

6. Other Reading