Editing Great Firewall (section)

==Campaigns and crackdowns==
As part of the Great Firewall, beginning in 2003, China started the [[Golden Shield Project]], a massive surveillance and censoring system, the hardware for which was provided by mostly U.S. companies, including [[Cisco Systems]]. The project was completed in 2006, and is now carried out in buildings with machines operated by civilians and supervised by China's national police force, the [[Chinese public security bureau|Public Security Bureau]] (PSB). The main operating procedures of the gatekeepers at the Golden Shield Project include monitoring domestic websites, email, and searching for politically sensitive language and calls to protest. When damaging content is found, local PSB officials can be dispatched to investigate or make arrests. However, by late 2007, the Golden Shield Project proved to operate sporadically at best, as users had long adapted to [[Block (Internet)|internet blocking]] by using proxy servers, among other strategies, to make communications and circumnavigate to blocked content.<ref name="OliverAugust">{{Cite magazine |url=http://archive.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/15-11/ff_chinafirewall |title=The Great Firewall: China's Misguided — and Futile — Attempt to Control What Happens Online |last=August |first=Oliver |date=23 October 2007 |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired Magazine]] |access-date=1 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402093349/http://archive.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/15-11/ff_chinafirewall |archive-date=2 April 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Internet Cafe|Internet cafés]], an extremely popular way of getting online in developing countries and where fewer people can afford a personal computer, are regulated by the Chinese government and by local Chinese government officials. Minors (in China, those under the age of 18) are not allowed into Internet cafés, although this law is widely ignored, and when enforced, has spurred the creation of underground "Black Web Bars" visited by those underage. As of 2008, internet cafés were required to register every customer in a log when they used the internet there. These records may be confiscated by either local government officials or the PSB. To illustrate local regulation of internet cafés, in one instance, a government official in the town of Gedong lawfully banned internet cafés from operating in the town because he believed them to be harmful to minors, who frequented them to play online games (including those considered violent) and surf the internet. However, internet cafés in this town simply went underground, and most minors were not deterred from visiting them.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/08/AR2007020802389_pf.html |title=Despite a Ban, Chinese Youth Navigate to Internet Cafés |date=9 February 2007 |access-date=1 April 2015 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |last=Cody |first=Edward |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220053356/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/08/AR2007020802389_pf.html |archive-date=20 December 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In May 2015, China indefinitely blocked access to the Chinese-language Wikipedia.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Charlie |title=We Had Our Arguments, But We Will Miss You Wikipedia |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/charlie-smith/we-had-our-arguments-but-_b_7610130.html |access-date=31 December 2018 |work=Huffington Post |date=18 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150619083431/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charlie-smith/we-had-our-arguments-but-_b_7610130.html |archive-date=19 June 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2017, China discussed plans for its own version of Wikipedia.<ref name=Verge2017>{{cite news|last1=Toor|first1=Amar|title=China is building its own version of Wikipedia|url=https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/4/15541016/china-wikipedia-encyclopedia-online-censorship|work=The Verge|date=4 May 2017|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904155402/https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/4/15541016/china-wikipedia-encyclopedia-online-censorship|archive-date=4 September 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Indep2017>{{cite news|last1=Watt|first1=Louise|title=China is launching its own Wikipedia – but only the government can contribute to it|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-wikipedia-chinese-version-government-no-public-authors-contributions-communist-party-line-a7717861.html|work=The Independent|date=4 May 2017|access-date=3 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210224316/https://www.dw.com/ar/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%88%D9%82%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D8%A3%D9%86%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%86%D9%8A-%D9%8A%D8%AA%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%85-%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%B2%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%80-%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A9/a-46669373|archive-date=10 December 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> As of May 2019, all language versions of Wikipedia have been blocked by the Chinese government.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/05/15/china-bans-wikipedia-all-languages/|title=Search result not found: China bans Wikipedia in all languages|newspaper=Washington Post|language=en|access-date=6 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607003155/https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/05/15/china-bans-wikipedia-all-languages/|archive-date=7 June 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>