Youlun Nie
Digital governance in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is poised to enter a new phase. On January 31, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) released the Cybercrime Prevention and Control Law (Draft) (网络犯罪防治法 (征求意见稿)) for public comment (MPS, January 31). [1] Recognizing that technical blockades are no longer sufficient, Beijing is building a robust legal framework to expand and codify its digital control apparatus. For over two decades, the Great Firewall (GFW)—an umbrella term for the PRC’s Internet censorship systems—has served as the primary instrument of digital control. [2] The draft law shifts the regulatory focus from technical censorship operations to substantive legal sanctions.
According to the “explanation” (说明) that accompanied the MPS’s draft law, the rapid development of the Internet has facilitated the migration of traditional crimes online, forming “massive and deeply entrenched black and grey industrial chains” (体系庞大、盘根错节的黑灰产业链条) (MPS, January 31). The authorities concede that reactive enforcement for individual cases cannot halt increasing cybercrime. In response, the proposed legislation establishes an operational doctrine based on the principles of “combining crackdowns with prevention, prioritizing prevention, governing the ecology, and collaborative linkage” (坚持“打防结合、防范为先、生态治理、协同联动”的原则).
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