Policy Concerns of Internet Mercenaries

Abstract

This chapter examines the policy concerns of Internet mercenaries. Internet mercenaries operate in a legal gray area. The Chinese government, although notorious for its tight control over the Internet and implementation of the “great firewall,” has been quite equivocal about drawing up a clear guideline to set a legal boundary for Internet mercenary marketing. On the other hand, the government tends to resort to administrative campaigns to crack down on the so-called “illegal IPR” (IIPR), the term the government uses to refer to “pushing hand operations” when it needs to put a tight grip over it. The chapter reviews a nation-wide, two-month campaign to crack down on IIPR in the spring of 2011 and examines impact such administrative control rather than the tenet of law effect on Internet mercenary marketing.