US lodges China censorship complaint

The US has complained officially to China over its strict new internet censorship rules as tension builds over an issue causing consternation among international technology companies and Chinese internet users. The development is a rare direct intervention by the US over internet freedom, which has steadily risen in importance as an issue between the two countries in recent years. US technology companies see it as a back-door way of keeping them out of the Chinese market. "We view with concern any attempt to restrict the free flow of information," said Ian Kelly, a State department spokesman. "Efforts to filter internet content are incompatible with China's aspirations to build a modern, information-based economy and society." The US embassy in Beijing said representatives had met officials at the ministry of industry and information technology and the ministry of commerce on Friday. Chinese Internet users are calling on fellow web surfers to stay offline on July 1, the debut of a controversial software filter that critics say the Chinese government is using to tighten censorship