One of China’s Propaganda Bosses Now Controls Your Web Browser

CNNIC, the China Internet Network Information Center, is run by China's Internet censorship czar

What do one of the world’s largest malware producers and China’s head of Internet censorship and propaganda have in common? They now control security for your Web browser.

Major Web browsers including Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Chrome granted a trust certificate to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) in 2010. CNNIC is similar to ICANN—the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers—in the United States. CNNIC and ICANN are major certificate authorities, meaning they are allowed by Web browsers to determine the validity of websites—to confirm, for example, that Gmail.com is really Gmail.com. The little padlock in the browser window means that a website has been signed by a certificate authority. CNNIC also runs China’s domain name registry, where websites are registered.

The Chinese official in charge of Internet censorship now decides which websites are safe.