The New York Times has published an article titled Chinese Censors and Web Users Match Wits by Shanghai-based correspondent Howard W. French.

There are some interesting quotes in the piece:

Qin Rui, deputy director of the Public Information and Internet Security Supervision Bureau:

Some messages on the Internet are sent by those with ulterior motives.

Xiao Qiang, expert on China's Internet controls at the University of California at Berkeley:

Zhao [Ziyang]'s death was the first big test since the SARS epidemic.

Stephen Hsu, physicist at the University of Oregon "who formerly developed technologies for allowing ordinary Chinese to avoid government censorship":

What they are doing is a little bit like sticking fingers into the dike... Beijing is investing heavily in keeping the lid on, and they've been pretty successful at controlling what appears. But there is always going to be uncontrolled activity around the edges.

Guo Liang, Internet expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing:

All of the big mistakes made in China since 1949 have had to do with a lack of information... Lower levels of government have come to understand this, and I believe that since the SARS epidemic, upper levels may be beginning to understand this, too.

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