The Internet in Asia

Google CEO predicts that India will be the largest Internet market

Google CEO Eric Schmidt  has predicted that India, and not China will be the world's largest Internet market in the next 5 to 10 years. Interestingly, he also predicts that Hindi and not Hispanic is likely to become one of the 3 leading languages on-line along with English and Chinese in the near future.  Unsurprisingly, his remarks have left analysts searching for answers to what Google plans to do in India soon. 

He also predicted that on-line mobile telephony would set the stage for the next social, political and economic impact.

China's online dating market set to boom by 2008

China's on-line dating market is expected to grow by 60% each year, reaching US$81 million in value by 2008. This figure still does not come anywhere close to the on-line dating markets in the US and Europe that are estimated to be valued at US$520 million and US$110 million respectedly in 2005.

Blogging boom in China

According to a recent report released by Chinese search engine Baidu.com there may be up to 60 million bloggers in China by the end of this year-- up from the 16 million Chinese bloggers currently on-line.  The number is expected to increase to 100 million by the end of next year.

Zhang Xiaorong, strategy development director of "Bokee," which was set up in 2002 and claims the biggest share of China's blogging market, said his company adds about 100,000 blogs a day.

Chinese students online activities monitored by "little sister"

Over 500 students in a single university monitor their fellow students use of the Internet according to an article published in the New York Times.  Based on suggestions from professors or older students, they introduce politically correct or innocuous themes for discussion - for example acceptable celebrity role models. Student forums and discussion groups are among the sites that are closely monitored.

One volunteer, a Ms. Hu beams with pride over her contribution toward building a "harmonious society." She says they don't aim to control, but instead to ensure that bad or wrong things dint appear on these websites.

Ebay loses out to China based competitor

According to to a China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) report released yesterday,  e-Bay Eachnet, China's arm of the online auction company claimed 30 per cent of the market share in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, while its local competitor Taobao, partly held by Yahoo!, grabbed two thirds of the pie, based on the number of active registered traders and the frequency of their transactions last year.

Blogging becomes more part of life

Xu Jinglei, widely thought of as China's most intellectual actress has started blogging, and her blog has attracted over 10 million clicks in just 4 months!  However, she rarely writes about her professional life, choosing instead to blog about her everyday life, stating that she doesn't want to make a distinction between the on-line diaries of celebrities and ordinary people. 

Each post of hers receives thousands of comments. She says that she loves to read these comments, not because they are all positive - but because she thinks they keep her in touch with reality.

China Communist Youth League develops its own MMOPRG

PowerNet Technology, a Chinese online gaming firm, has developed a new online game in cooperation with the China Communist Youth League - "Anti-Japan War Online," . The game is based on

the Japanese invasion of China during World War II, from 1937 through 1945. It is aimed at generating

a "national spirit" and educating the younger Chinese generation.  Players will be able to play in simulations of the larger battles, but only on the Chinese side. To reduce violence, players will not be able to kill each other and soldiers are depicted in miniature.

Skype says texts are censored by China

Skype, a free on-line communications service owned by e-Bay has announced that its partner in China has been censoring text-messages sent within the country. Like Yahoo before, it defends its position, saying that its the only way to do business in China. A spokesperson for the company said that its partner has been censoring text messages with sensitive words like Falun Gong, and that following these laws are no different from abiding by laws set by the other Western countries.

Nonaligned nations strike back through new news service

A joint effort by the 114 countries that are members of the Non-Aligned Movement have started an on-line news service aimed at providing an alternative to what they consider unfair coverage by the Western media. The news site can be accessed here.

Unchecked Freedom in the Web of China

Xiao Qiang, director of the China Internet Project of the University of California, Berkeley commented that the Web of China has become a wild place when it comes to things that are outside of politics. One is free to access just about anything on the Web.

On paper, the government's Internet regulations forbid the display of any information that damages state security, harms the dignity of the state, promotes pornography and gambling, or "spreads evil cults" and "feudal superstitions." In the real world however, the Web in China has also become a thriving marketplace for everyone, including scam artists and hard-core criminals.

It is ironical that while China's Internet police force is busy deleting phrases like "free speech" and "human rights" from online bulletin boards, the sales of pirated musics and movies and the peddling drugs and sex and other illegal activities in the web are mostly left unchecked. These unchecked freedoms on the Web, analysts say, are perhaps unwittingly ushering in an age of startling social change.