Recent moves by Beijing to block Internet search engines like Google and AltaVista illustrate a new technological element in China's effort to curb the use of the Internet for anti-government activities, Internet watchers say.

A recent report by the Rand Corporation think tank found that "the government's crackdown on dissidents is succeeding in cyberspace."

"I think (China's efforts) are succeeding and that the events of the last few days show they are becoming more sophisticated," James Mulvenon, a China analyst with Rand and co-author of the report, told AFP.

Mulvenon said China has long employed a low-tech "Leninist" strategy -- using informants, surveillance, searches and seizure of equipment -- to prevent the use of the Internet for subversion. But he said the authorities now appear to have more effective technology for filtering out undesirable content.

"What we've seen in the last week or two is that they have now added that high-tech portion of the equation," Mulvenon said.

He added that Chinese authorities are now more effective in finding and shutting down the so-called "proxy" servers that allow individuals to surf the Web anonymously.

Bobson Wong, executive director of the Digital Freedom Network -- a group that advocates new technology as a tool for human rights -- acknowledged that dissidents in China have seen their options for free expression dwindle with the demise of some anonymous browsing programs such as Safeweb and Triangle Boy.

"Safeweb and Triangle Boy were the most promising but they were essentially shut down because the company could not continue running the anonymous Web browsing service for free," Wong said.

Wong said some hacker programs and techniques such as steganography -- which encrypts messages in images -- can be used by Chinese dissidents, but that the vast majority are blocked if they try to view banned materials.

"I think the Chinese authorities have been fairly successful in controlling the Internet for the average user," Wong said. "The average user in China knows by now that there are certain things he or she shouldn't look at, certain sites you can't access, and certain searches you can't do."

Human rights activists argue that China would not be able to carry out its crackdown on the Web without the help of US firms and their technology.

Yahoo, for example, has been criticized for agreeing to the terms set by the Chinese government for self-censorship.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of New York-based Human Rights Watch, sent a letter this month to Google and AltaVista executives urging them not to follow Yahoo's example.

"Companies that do business in China have an opportunity to play a proactive role in opening space for Chinese citizens to express themselves freely," Roth said.

"Unfortunately, Yahoo, along with a number of Chinese Internet businesses and research institutes, has voluntarily signed a public pledge on 'self-discipline' in China that commits the company to investigate and block websites based on their content."

Mulvenon said he believes Google access was restored only after it agreed to allow China to block its "cached" websites, or archives of sites that may not be otherwise found. Google did not return calls for comment.

But Mulvenon said a boycott by US tech firms would be ineffective "because the Chinese can just as easily get (technology) from the Japanese or the Europeans."

He said China is likely to become more open only as its people become more affluent and demand greater civil liberties.

China, with some 45 million Internet users, routinely blocks a large number of foreign-based sites, primarily those featuring dissident views or banned groups such as the Falungong spiritual organization, but also certain foreign news sites and pages showing pornography.

Still, activists and their helpers outside China continue to try to find ways around the network. One example was a "mirror" image of the Google site, elgooG.com, in which words appear backwards, which appeared to avoid detection by Beijing.

Ben Edelman, a Harvard University researcher who has been monitoring China's Internet blocking efforts, said it remains to be seen whether Beijing can effectively control the Internet.

"China is winning, but people are finding ways around (the restrictions)" he said. "I think this is the way an arm races in the computer world plays out, and we don't know who is going to win."

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