JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: As worldwide use of the Internet increases, some governments are trying to restrict the huge flow of information. CNN's interactive correspondent Allison Tom reports now on China's attempts to control cyberspace.</s>ALLISON TOM, CNN INTERACTIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): China, with a population of more than one billion people, is expected to become one of the world's largest Internet markets. But growth of the Net in China has been heavily restricted because of government policies, particularly on Internet service providers, or ISPs.</s>KRISTEN GUIDA, FREEDOM HOUSE: The Chinese government has a monopoly on telecoms. That means that it controls all the ISPs in the country. And with the control over the ISPs, the government can block access to Web sites. It can monitor e-mail and that sort of thing.</s>TOM: Earlier this year, the government passed regulations controlling content. It requires Internet service providers to register Web sites, and it makes it illegal for any information that compromises state security to appear online. But critics say the term "state security" is simply too vague. They say it's a way for the Chinese government to crack down on anyone it considers to be a threat. But monitoring such a huge amount of information online can be a challenge.</s>BLAISE ZEREGA, "RED HERRING": The Internet can be censored in China somewhat. There's thousands and thousands of new sites springing up every month, so of course the government has it's work cut out for it in order to regulate and censor all the content and access.</s>TOM: Recently, city governments shut down dozens of cybercafes in an attempt to control citizens' activities online. There are more than 10 million Web users in China. Government censorship is just one of the issues involved in future development of the Internet in China. The government itself points to others, including narrow bandwidth, high prices and unstable service. Allison Tom, CNN.
Chinese Government Attempts to Control Cyberspace