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Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom
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One technical problem is the interoperability between the two protocols. Existing protocols allow
interoperability only from IPv4 to IPv6 and not the other way around - presenting another risk that
the Internet could be split into two networks.
Further, with introduction of IPv6, the established procedure of a flexible allocation of Internet
protocol addresses following specific ongoing communication needs could end and be replaced by
a procedure that would give every individual or institutional Internet user an Internet protocol
address for life. Like passport numbers, such fixed addresses could become a key element in
Internet authentication processes. That would raise many questions about data protection, privacy
and human rights. It would also open up possibilities for much more control of individual Internet
communications.
Conclusions
China will soon be the Internet's No. 1 nation, surpassing the United States as the country with the
largest number of users, as well as the largest number of domain name registrations under a
country code top-level domain, and the largest number of broadband access points. It will also
have the largest number of individual web sites and blogs.
However, Internet development in China is characterized by a huge contradiction between
economic interests and human rights practices. While there is an open policy toward promotion of
the private sector in the Internet economy, including access for everybody to the Internet, there is
also a restrictive government policy when it comes to access to and distribution of information or
free communication amongst individual Internet users. It remains to be seen what the
consequences of that contradiction will be for China’s internal evolution and for its relations with
the world outside China.
Wolfgang Kleinwächter is a professor of Internet policy and regulation in the Department for Media
& Information Studies at the University of Aarhus in Denmark. He is Co-Chair of the law section of
the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), co-founder of the
Global Internet Governance Academic Network and was a member of the UN Working Group on
Internet Governance.
5 1 On the 20th anniversary of the first e-mail from China, the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany
organized with the Chinese Academy of Science a conference on Internet issues with high-level representation from
China, Germany and the United States, including Zorn, Landweber and Wolff. http://www.hpi.unipotsdam.de/fileadmin/hpi/veranstaltungen/china/slides/conference_binder.pdf
6 1 See ISO Maintenance Agency, in: http://www.iso.org/iso/country_codes
7 1 See CNNIC, 21st Statistical Survey Report on Internet Development in China, January 2008, in:
http://www.cnnic.cn/uploadfiles/pdf/2008/2/29/104126.pdf
8 1 Art. 27 of the China lnternet Domain Name Regulations, Order No. 30, Ministry of Information Industry of the
People's Republic of China, Sept. 28, 2004, see: http://www.cnnic.cn/html/Dir/2005/03/24/2861.htm
9 1 CNNIC Implementing Rules of Domain Name Registration, Dec. 1, 2002, in:
http://www.cnnic.cn/html/Dir/2003/11/27/1522.htm
10 1 Rules for CNNIC Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, Oct. 8, 2007, in:
http://www/cnnic.cn/html/Dir/2006/03/15/3655.htm
11 1 ICANN Board Chairman visits CNNIC, Feb. 19, 2008, in:
http://www.cnnic.cn/html/Dir/2008/02/25/4995.htm
12 1 https://www.hkdnr.hk/
13 1 http://www.monic.net.mo/page.php
14 1 http://www.twnic.net.tw/index2.php
15 1 CNNIC, 21st Statistical Survey Report on Internet Development, in China, January 2008, p. 25, ibid.
16 1 ibid, p. 41 ff.