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That would be Signal to Noise by Eric Nylund. Yeah, I've been thinking the same thing recently.

Damn! I even googled Signal to Noise, but didn't search hard enough. I need to pick up a copy of the book, I only own the sequel.

Was that a smaller plot point of the book or have I looked up the wrong one?

The Great Firewall was definitely a fairly minor plot point compared to everything else.