IP: Wired on Chineese Dissidents and the Net

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

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