Call it state censorship M2M model: Chinese government just launched a new website for people to report on what officials describe as illegal or unhealthy information on the internet. A China blogger called this "a crackdown that employs a public open-ended architecture" and asked "Isn’t that just inviting random, pornographic, illegal, and inappropriate comments?"

My view is actually this form of censorship can be quite powerful. This strategy is complimentary to, yet much more effective than simply controlling internet use through law and regulations, and blocking access to foreign sites. It goes together with the governments other efforts such as forcing ISPs and ICPs to show what it calls self discipline and using internet police units to monitor online activity, including people surfing in the many thousands of internet cafes.

The Chinese authorities are once again using a strategy which mixes intimidation, uncertainty, and divide and conquer techniques to create fear and distrust among people, therefore forcing internet users to censor themselves online. (If one wants to know more about how censorship works in Chinese society, you can read an excellent article written by Princeton professor Perry Link.)

However, in the long run, I am optimistic that the growing demands for free expression among Chinese netizens will ultimately topple any censorship regime, including this "M2M" type.