ONI Leaders Comment on the Real Reason for Chinese Internet Cafe Closings

An article dated February 17th on Red Herring revealed widely what the OpenNet Initiative team already knew -- that though the Chinese government has indeed ordered the closing of wangba, or Internet cafes, it was not in order to suppress free speech, but to appease parents concerned about their children's potential to become addicted to online games.  Berkman Fellow Derek Bambauer commented, "There's a tendency to see Chinese actions through the lens of political opposition and dissent, and I worry that’s rather simplistic in how it treats a very complicated relationship between this state, its society, and this technology."  ONI's Nart Villenueve discussed the effect the closings will have on the ability to use the Internet anonymously in China.