[2][b][3][non-primary source needed] The Golden Shield Project also manages the Bureau of Public Information and Network Security Supervision,[c] which is a bureau that is widely believed, though not officially claimed, to operate a subproject called the Great Firewall of China (GFW)[d][4] which is a censorship and surveillance project that blocks data from foreign countries that may be unlawful in the PRC.
[6] The political and ideological background of the Golden Shield Project is considered to be one of Deng Xiaoping's favorite sayings in the early 1980s: "If you open the window for fresh air, you have to expect some flies to blow in.
Nonetheless, despite the economic freedom, values and political ideas of the Chinese Communist Party have had to be protected by "swatting flies" of other unwanted ideologies.
The Ministry of Public Security took initial steps to control Internet use in 1997, when it issued comprehensive regulations governing its use.
Users are prohibited from using the Internet to create, replicate, retrieve, or transmit information that incites resistance to the PRC Constitution, laws, or administrative regulations; promotes the overthrow of the government or socialist system; undermines national unification; distorts the truth, spreads rumors, or destroys social order; or provides sexually suggestive material or encourages gambling, violence, or murder.
On 6 December 2002, 300 people in charge of the Golden Shield project from 31 provinces and cities throughout China participated in a four-day inaugural "Comprehensive Exhibition on Chinese Information System".
[12] At the exhibition, many western high-tech products, including Internet security, video monitoring and human face recognition were purchased.
This part of the project includes the ability to block content by preventing IP addresses from being routed through and consists of standard firewalls and proxy servers at the six Internet gateways.
The first phase of the project focused on the construction of the first-level, second-level, and the third-level information communication network, application database, shared platform, etc.
If some violating event happened, the owner of the cybercafé can send the personal information to the police through the internet.
[26] According to The New York Times, Google has set up computer systems inside China that try to access Web sites outside the country.
Referring to Google's first-hand experience of the great firewall, there is some hope in the international community that it will reveal some of its secrets.
Simon Davies, founder of London-based pressure group Privacy International, is now challenging Google to reveal the technology it once used at China's behest.
[35] Since at least 2015, the Russian Roskomnadzor agency collaborates with Chinese Great Firewall security officials in implementing its data retention and filtering infrastructure.
[36][37][38] Since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, in order to combat disinformation and enforce the war censorship law, Russia authorities began improving and widening the capabilities of this system.