Smashing China's Great Firewall... through trade disputes?

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    Date: 
    12 November 2009

    During the Beijing Olympics, 40 athletes bought a pro-Tibet charity album through iTunes. This was such a threat to national security that the Chinese government, never shy with a bit of well-placed censorship, completely blocked iTunes, even after repeated promises to cut down on Internet censorship during the Olympics. China has shown little interest in relaxing most of its Internet restrictions, but a new paper asks whether a novel approach to the question of censorship might force China—and many other countries—to curb their blacklisting ways.

    What if China was taken before the World Trade Organization (WTO) and charged with not living up to its commitments on free trade?