However, the ultimate irony is that in policing morality on the web, Chinese censors would be pushing citizens toward opportunities to communicate outside government controls. According to Rob Faris of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, unmonitored social networks are Beijing’s greatest fear. Beijing thus might not want to fully implement the censors’ guidelines. But that would force the government to backpedal and confront whatever clique has been pushing to curb titillation. As Mr. Faris notes, “Once you’ve put in the structures and systems for censoring the Internet, it’s vulnerable to the whims of people in power.”

via Love and Aliens in the Time of Censorship – WSJ.