with China playing a bigger role,

what will the Internet become?

Hi, welcome to China Uncensored,

I'm your host Chris Chappell.

The Internet!

Some of you watching may not have even been alive

at a time when the Internet wasn't everywhere.

But I remember such a time.

When computers were mysterious novelties,

completely misunderstood by popular media.

What's your preference?

Apple, Pear, Wang?

Oh listen, I don't know anything about computers?

Nobody does!

Electric Dreams was popular, right?

Anyway, the world has now changed in weird, wild ways.

Because Internet.

But at the beginning,

no one really knew what to do with computers.

Other than, you know

designing your own woman.

Okay, look.

You know how you're always talking about how you can

simulate all that stuff on your computer?

You know?

What's the difference,

why can't we simulate a girl?

The 80s were magnificent.

But clearly at that time,

no one really could predict

where this whole Internet thing was going.

Although it is largely still about finding the perfect woman.

Anyway, the point is, 20 years ago,

the Internet was still developing.

And so in 1998

the US government helped create the Los Angeles based non-profit,

ICANN.

To put it very simply,

there's a department of ICANN that's in charge

of the Internet's address book.

It makes sure users get to the website

they intend to visit.

Like when you type in YouTube.com,

it sends you to YouTube's website

so you don't have to type in the long string of numbers

which is YouTube's actual IP address.

It's like how you don't bother remembering

your mom's phone number anymore

because you can just go to your phone's Contacts

and click her name.

But you use ICANN way more than you call your mother.

ICANN is like if the entire world shared Contacts

for Internet addresses.

That's really important because

whoever controls the Internet's address book

also has the ability to censor the Internet.

Let's say ICANN removes the domain name youtube.com.

YouTube itself may still exist,

but would you know what numbers to type in

to get there?

99.9% of people wouldn't be able to access it.

So ICANN is really important.

As the Economist puts it,

“That is why,

as the internet grew up,

America decided not to hand control to the United Nations

or another international body steered by governments.”

But for the most part,

the US government has been pretty much hands off,

which let the Internet thrive

as the global depository of cat videos

we know today.

But something changed this past Saturday.

Because the US let its contract with ICANN expire.

As of October 1,

it will be run on a “multi-stakeholder model.”

In other words,

a “mix of corporate interests, government officials,

activists and experts

spread across four international bodies.”

Whew, this is getting complicated!

Can we go back to the old days for a bit?

Much better

You see,

the Internet was never meant to have a central authority.

And the less say that governments have,

the more free the Internet, right?

After all,

there are 3.6 billion Internet users,

so of course

the vast majority are outside the US.

And after Edward Snowden revealed

that the NSA was spying on the global Internet,

a lot of people called for the US

to give up control.

So did a lot of

major technology and telecommunication companies.

So the US did give up control.

Well, not completely.

the US will still have one seat

on ICANN's 171-member Governmental Advisory Committee.

In other words,

the US's position on the committee

will be theoretically equal

to a country like Barbados,

a country you think about so little,

that you didn't even notice that's not Barbados.

This is Barbados.

Oh, that is fun! No wonder John Oliver can't stop doing it

No wonder John Oliver can't stop doing it!

But just because Barbados has a population smaller than Wichita, Kansas

doesn't mean it shouldn't have an equal say

over how the Internet gets run.

But that's not the whole picture,

since in reality,

not all countries have equally small stakes

in how the Internet will be run.

Actually,

the US will still have lots of sway.

But you know who else does?

China.

A country I talk about so much,

you were wondering when I was going to get to it.

You see, China—

or Chinese authorities to be precise—

are very happy about the US giving up its control.

As one Chinese cyber security professor said,

“China has the capability now

to set up international rules for cyberspace

and use our strategy and our rules

to influence the world.”

I mean,

who wouldn't want China's Internet rules

to apply to the entire world?

I mean, first of all,

we'd get actual Internet police.

But that's just some professor

saying that's the plan.

I mean,

it's paranoid delusion to imagine

that China is actually considering setting up

its own rules in cyberspace.

Except that,

according to another guy,

“China is considering setting up

its own rules in cyberspace.”

And that other guy is the Premier of China,

Li Keqiang.

So, maybe there is something to the idea

that the Communist Party might be trying to influence

the global Internet.

It's pretty well known the Chinese regime

has kept a tight grip on China's Internet—

with two million people employed to police it,

so they can monitor what Chinese citizens do and say.

They also block access to websites

they consider subversive.

Like YouTube.

But over the past few years,

the Chinese regime been pushing to control the world's Internet—

by filling the void left by the United States

as it steps back from ICANN.

But how?

Isn't there that “multi-stakeholder model?”

Well, the Chinese regime has gotten pretty good

at manipulating international bodies

and foreign tech companies,

like the ones that will now oversee ICANN.

Take, for instance,

China's Technical Committee 260,

or TC260.

It was founded in 2002.

Yeah,

so they've been secretly planning this

for a long time.

China has been using the TC260 in part

to “actively participate

in international rules and standards making in cyberspace,

so as to improve discourse and China's influence

and increase international adoption of China's standards.”

Now if the name TC260 sounds a bit like ED-209 from RoboCop,

well,

that's a not too far off.

Think of it like an ED-209

designed to make internet policy

instead of “urban pacification.”

The TC260 helps draft laws that focus on encryption,

big data,

and other cybersecurity issues.

And as the Wall Street Journal says,

it makes sure technology is “secure and controllable.”

Secure and controllable?

By the CCP?

That doesn't sound too good.

But wait!

The TC260 is not just the CCP.

It's a committee.

Foreign tech companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, and IBM

are members.

Surely,

they will help China move in the right direction

in terms of Internet freedom.

Except,

many companies in the West

get a little funny when access to the Chinese market

is dangled in front of them.

Like when IBM caved to pressure from the Chinese regime

and gave one of the world's biggest violators of Intellectual Property

access to their source code.

Or when Cisco sold routers to China

with the intention of helping the regime censor its citizens.

So my guess is these companies

aren't really going to change China,

as much as China is going to change them.

Anyway,

if you're worried about the TC260

drafting scary big brother Internet regulations—

well, yeah.

But those regulations only apply to people inside China.

However,

the TC260 is also part of a broader plan

by Chinese authorities to exert control over the world's Internet.

The TC260 reports directly to the Cyberspace Administration of China.

And the Cyberspace Administration of China

just happens to report directly to report directly

to the Leading Small Group for Network Security and Information,

which is chaired by the leader of the Chinese Communist Party,

Xi Jinping.

In other words,

the TC260 ultimately reports to the head of the Communist Party.

And its goal is to influence international rules and standards for the Internet.

And that's just one example

of how the CCP is trying to influence Internet policy.

There's also a sort of related organization

called the CyberSecurity Association of China.

Its goal is to strengthen the CCP's control over China's Internet,

including how foreign companies can operate in China.

But while the CyberSecurity Association

has representatives from Chinese companies like Alibaba,

it has no foreign companies among its members.

Oh,

and its chairman is this guy—

who created the Great Firewall of China.

So suffice it to say,

it's not pro-Internet freedom.

And its Secretary General is Li Yuxiao,

who once said this:

“Now is the time for China

to realize its responsibilities.

If the United States is willing to give up its running of the internet sphere,

the question comes as to who will take the baton

and how it would be run.”

So if all of this seems a bit complicated,

it is.

That's the point.

The Chinese regime doesn't want people figuring it out.

And that's how,

under the radar,

the Chinese regime has spent a long time

carefully designing ways to influence the groups

that will be overseeing ICANN,

the world's Internet address book

that all of us use everyday.

Does the Chinese regime control the global Internet now?

No.

But they want to.

And if eventually they do,

they could write the rules over how you're allowed to use the internet!

So the Chinese regime has been planning this for a long time,