Chinese Bloggers Expose More High Level Corruption – Netizens Advance The Rule Of Law

Oct 252012
 

Chinese netizens are managing to do what the authorities including the police, state security apparatus and the ruling communist party’s internal disciplinary bodies cannot or will not do – expose corruption.

In what is becoming a regular and hopefully growing trend Chinese officials have been forced to launch an investigation after microbloggers uncovered another high ranking official with millions of dollar in property and assets.

Quoting state media, wire service AFP, said the Southern Guangzhou city will investigate urban management official Cai Bin, 56, who has 21 homes valued at 40 million yuan ($6.4 million), Xinhua news agency reported.

Cai, who earns about 10,000 yuan a month, failed to report all his holdings as required by the state, the report said.

Nothing as to how this vast wealth was obtained by a man on such a modest salary. Perhaps it a case of putting a little aside each month and watching how quickly it builds up; alternately  Cai is a corrupt, thieving villain who deserves everything coming to him. It is a matter for the courts to decide. But one thing is certain – it will not be swept under the carpet.

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Silencing The Dissenters: Internet Censorship In South East Asia and China

Oct 292010
 

Vietnam, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines are all moving towards Chinese-style internet censorship reports the Guardian newspaper in an excellent interactive analysis of the state of freedom of expression in the region.

The British newspaper, noted for its quality international coverage, provides and in depth look at the future of press freedoms in the region. It also identifies five key bloggers worth following from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Cyber Haven Set Up By “Reporters Without Borders”

Aug 162010
 

A journalism support group has set up an “anti-censorship shelter” in Paris, to give online refuge for journalists, bloggers and dissidents whose work is being threatened by censorship or cyber attack.

Reporters Sans Frontières says the shelter – billed as the first ever – will use state-of-the-art censorship-circumvention and encryption software, and connect to the digital security firm XeroBank through a high-speed anonymity network.

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China’s Censors Cutting Off More Than 90 Percent Of Blogs

Jun 222010
 

Censors in mainland China are blocking more than 95 percent of blog postings according to reports in the South China Morning Post.

Quoting experts speaking at a regional forum the report (full version below) says there are more than 220 million bloggers in China but most of them have their writing deleted or blocked on the internet.

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62 Gag Orders in 2009

Feb 012010
 

Hard on the heels of a major communications crackdown in strife-torn Xinjiang, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reports that China’s powerful Central Propaganda Department issued at least 62 gag orders on state-controlled media in 2009. Continue reading »

Microsoft Too Soft on China, says HRW

Jan 282010
 

A week after the China-Google fracas, Human Rights Watch is accusing industry behemoth Microsoft of downplaying China’s cyber-censorship.
Recent public statements by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and founder/chairman Bill Gates appear to contradict the company’s official statement of opposition to such censorship and minimize or even support online censorship in China, it said. Continue reading »

New Website Tracks Oppression Of Online Writers

Dec 032009
 

As more and more people are being threatened or imprisoned for what they write on the internet a new website has been launched to keep track of the oppression.

The websites creator Global Voices Avocacty say many governments have  increased surveillance, filtering, legal actions and harassment. The harshest consequence for many has been the politically motivated arrest of bloggers and online writers for their online and/or offline activities, in some tragic cases even leading to death. Online journalists and bloggers now represent 45% of all media workers in prison worldwide.

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US Takes On Vietnam Over Internet Censorship

Oct 292009
 

The United States Congress is considering a resolution calling on Vietnam to ease up restrictions on internet uses and free bloggers and cyber activists jailed for their activities.

Supporting the resolution, California Rep Loretta Sanchez told the House that it was time for Vietnam to recognize the rights of local internet users.

She sees the internet and free expression as essential for the promotion of democracy, and social and financial development.

The representative said she did not believe that a country which uses violence and the legal system to crush people trying to freely express their views deserves to be a member of the World Trade Organization or President of the United Nations Security Council and position it currently holds.

Any repercussions, albeit unlikely, in the WTO would hurt Vietnam economically. Removal from its position on the UN Security Council, while unlikely to have a direct material affect on the Vietnam, would be seen as humiliating.

Meanwhile dozens of bloggers and writers are currently in jail in Vietnam. They are often offered release on the condition they stop writing about democracy and human rights issues.

China puts up Berlin (fire) Wall

Oct 292009
 

Twenty years after the Berlin wall fell, signaling the end of communism in East Germany, China has erected an electronic wall to stop its citizens from joining the festivities electronically.

The organizers of the Berlin Wall Twitter site intended for it to be used by people wishing to post their memories of the night the wall came down. But it quickly became an outlet for Chinese angry at internet censorship in their country.

Organizers said nearly half of the more than 3000 comments posted were from China.

According to the China Digital Times, one user wrote: “Mr Hu Jintao, please tear down this Great Firewall.

It was an ironic twist on the 1987 speech given by US President Ronald Reagan who asked Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachew to “Tear Down This Wall.”

China has at least 338 million Internet users, more than any other country in the world, according to state media.

Media law assistance website for journalists

May 272009
 

The  Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) has recently launched a Media Law Assistance Website to provide journalists around the world with legal assistance, information and resources.

The globally accessible site contains information and resources on media law and serves as a source of both information and analysis through seminal texts, legislation, and court decisions on media law.

Journalists around the world are invited to register on the site; registered members can participate in forum discussions with other members, create an online profile and network with media participants, communicate privately with other members, read and comment on the website’s regularly updated news blog and access the website’s library.

To visit the website, go to http://www.globalmedialaw.com/blog/.

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