This might sound absolutely out of the ordinary....its sad but it happens to be a fact...http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/june2007/190607chinesestyle.htm

I look at that as scare mongering....

If they haven't managed to stop illegal downloads, just how to they plan to restrict the whole WWW?

If they haven't managed to stop illegal downloads, just how to they plan to restrict the whole WWW?

 I would say that was easier than trying to filter out and separate only the illegal download traffic - if everything gets routed past a censor then we're all screwed

I rely on the fact that the sheer volume of internet traffic means the China is the only country with enough manpower to have people monitoring everyone  

I refuse to imagine this as a realistic possibility, though we really don't know what the heck the world will look like in X years. Everything's changing at a more and more rapid pace!

Yeah, exactly

I don't think it will happen, it would be too unpopular to happen anywhere with a democracy

except possibly in the USA, under the excuse of catching terrorists

That would be a scary reality.

But can you imagine the economic blow such a measure would inflict on economic activity?

Just the slowing down of the internet connections would cost collectively millions to billions a year in lost productivity.

I am amazed that China can florish with such a situation.

Testimony to the economic clout of cheap labour (relative internationally off course)