The coalition, which is led by China Netcom — a company that owns 80 percent of the network access in Beijing — will share both money and information regarding the URLs of banned sites. According to ChinaTechNews.com, the 11 companies include Beijing Mobile, Fiberlink Communications and Great Wall Broadband Network Service, among others.
The move by Internet industry leaders follows on the heels of a Chinese government decision to opt out of ICANN. The government also made its commitment to stamping out pornography clear, when it banned pornographic SMS messages earlier this year. With an alternate Internet in place and network established for banning restricted material, China’s 110 million Internet users are one further step removed from the rest of the online world.