While Web 2.0 is already transforming the way people live and work in the U.S., China is still struggling to absorb the impact of the most basic form of the Internet. E-mail, chat rooms, message boards, and Web sites all provide ways for people to communicate instantly and openly. As a result, the Internet represents both an opportunity for its growing economy, and a threat to its political stability.

Because the Web is an essential tool of commerce, China can’t simply ban the Internet, as other dictatorships, such as North Korea and Cuba, have done. In fact, China has encouraged its people to get on the Web as a way of fostering business growth. Access there is cheap and can be found almost anywhere. According to an article in The Christian Science Monitor, in addition to the 134 million Chinese who are already on-line, there are 2 million cyber-cafes in the nation.

But the Internet, as we know it in North America and most of the rest of the world, is just too free and open for a Communist government to handle. Like the capitalism that China is attempting to embrace, the first version of the Internet simply doesn’t fit naturally with China’s traditional ways. And now that Chinese Internet users are embracing Web 2.0 through blogging, the threat to China’s leaders has intensified.

As a result, even though China is engaged in an attempt to control what may ultimately be uncontrollable, some of its strategies are working. Thus far, its efforts have included intimidation and censorship. China has demanded that its bloggers register with the government. And it pressured Microsoft to block “blog titles” that included words such as Freedom and Democracy.

New filtering techniques may enable more effective restrictions than most people realize. So, the question is whether all those millions of Chinese will be surfing the real Web or some highly-censored look-alike created by the Chinese government. According to Slate, China is filtering not just Web content but the very tools that drive the Internet, such as search engines, chat rooms, blogs, and e-mail.

For example, it instantly deletes postings that refer to holding democratic elections in China. And it makes sure that Chinese Internet users can’t access sites like Democracy Times, even when they enter those words in a search engine. With billions...