If they realize it, then why is access becoming MORE restricted than ever before? Ever since Chairman Xi came into power, all I can see is more restrictions and tightening of gov. policy.
As the comments before me mentioned, the sad reality is corruption is rampant right now. When everyone is trying to get a piece of the pie, it'll only stop once the pie runs out.
Believe it or not, network filtering is a huge business in China, especially selling products to gov.