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IP: Wired on Chineese Dissidents and the Net
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Fri, 07 Aug 1998 12:11:34 -0700
From: Barry Steinhardt <Barrys () eff org> Subject: Wired on Chineese Dissidents and the Net Is China Listening? by Heidi Kriz 6:58pm 6.Aug.98.PDT The United States and the international community may hold sway over the fate of a man accused of using the Internet to try to overthrow the Chinese government, according to the founder of an online magazine for Chinese dissidents. In April, Lin Hai became the first person in China to be arrested for "inciting the overthrow of state power" by using the Internet. Lin, a 30-year-old computer engineer in Shanghai, stands accused of sending 30,000 Chinese email addresses to the US-based magazine Chinese VIP Reference. "The Chinese government is more vulnerable now and more suggestible to international pressure," said the magazine's founder, a Chinese dissident in the United States, who goes by the alias Richard Long. Long, who is in touch with Lin's lawyer and parents, said that Lin's lawyer believes Beijing has been influenced by President Clinton's recent visit, together with pressure from the international community. "There is some chance that his punishment will be relatively light, because the current Chinese regime is keen to build a good relationship with the United States. They want to portray themselves in a favorable light," said Long. "Everything is changing in China." Long is also cautiously optimistic about the handling of Lin's case so far. Around the time of Tiananmen Square, when dissidents were picked up by the police, friends and families were not informed of the arrests, and the dissidents were not formally charged for several months. Lin, on the other hand, was formally charged and his family notified in a short period of time. Although the signs are encouraging, Lin could still face life in prison -- or even the death penalty -- for his offense. Dissidents in China and around the globe often use email to circulate information about the arrests of other dissidents and to receive news from the outside world. To monitor and prohibit such information, the Beijing government filters content on the Web through its central computers and regularly blocks access to sites it deems subversive or dangerous. "Just as the fax machine was so crucial in the Tiananmen Square incident, so the Internet could be in the prodemocracy movement in China right now," said Barry Steinhardt of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Industry experts estimate that at least 1.1 million people on the mainland are using the Internet, more than double the number less than a year ago. They also predict that figure will mushroom to nearly 6 million by 2002. During Clinton's landmark visit to China in June, William Daley, US commerce secretary, pressed Beijing to loosen its restrictions on the Internet while speaking to students and faculty at Jiao Tong, a prominent technology university in Shanghai. "To limit its reach would be to deny China the social, intellectual, and commercial connections which are demanded in today's global village," Daley told students. Despite Daley's appeal, US businesses investing in a new government-sponsored Web network in China may be undermining that message. The China Internet Corp., based in Hong Kong, is backed by China's official Xinhua news agency. Some of the corporation's US investors include Netscape Communications, America Online, and Sun Microsystems. "Beijing's ultimate goal is to turn the CIC into an Intranet. It would be the World Wide Web, without the world. Only news and access deemed fit by the government make it through," said Bobson Wong, the executive director of the Digital Freedom Network a Web site that posts information and articles from dissidents. Still, prodemocracy activists believe that the vastness of the Internet will prove too much for governments to repress in the end. "Technologically, there are always ways to circumvent censorship," said Wong. "There's too much information out there, the censors can't keep up." Related Wired Links: ______________________________________________________________________ Barry Steinhardt East Coast Phone 212 549 2508 President East Coast Fax 212 549 2656 Electronic Frontier Foundation West Coast Phone 415 436 9333 ext 102 1550 Bryant St. Suite 725 West Coast Fax 415 436 9993 San Francisco, CA 94103 <http://www.eff.org> Barrys () eff org
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- IP: Wired on Chineese Dissidents and the Net Dave Farber (Aug 07)