Ominous Signs For Free Speech And Netizens During China’s Party Congress

Nov 192012
 

So how open was the Chinese Communist Party’s  Congress. For netizens the answer would be “not even a little bit”.

In a demonstration that the old idea of say nothing and make sure no-one else does either the congress was marked by censorship, widespread internet outages and other attempts to suppress free speech. Any thought that things may be easing for China’s netizens were quickly dismissed.

The best account of what went on during the Congress comes from free speech advocacy group Global Voices.

As China’s new generation of leaders were officially presented to the world this week at the Chinese Communist Party’s 18th National Congress, Chinese netizens experienced severe Internet interruptions. As the longtime Beijing-based blogger and businessman Bill Bishop described it, “these have been the most draconian few days of Internet restrictions I have experienced.”

Several weeks before the Congress, netizens began to report frequent disruptions when accessing Google services, foreign websites and virtual private networks (VPNs) – important tools for Internet users to circumvent the “Great Firewall.”  Interruptions to Internet access then cranked into high gear on November 9, one day after the start of the Congress, when Google services were reported to be fully blocked in China, and their domain name systems were deliberately redirected to unknown IP addresses in Korea. Please see Greatfire.org for more detailed reports and analysis.

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Beijing’s Reaction To Coup Rumours Only Added Fuel To The Fire

Apr 022012
 

Internet restrictions imposed by the Chinese authorities over the weekend were lifted Tuesday but the crackdown was a reminder to netizens that Beijing is ready to pull the plug when it sees things it does not like.

In this latest case it was rumors about a supposed coup the drew the authorities ire. What Beijing seems unable to grasp is that cutting off the flow of information only gives credence to such claims not matter how flimsy or fantastic.

But when your only tool is a hammer then every problem starts to look like a nail. A far more effective response would have been an open and frank discussion. Honesty and the truth tend to kill rumors as fast as they start. It is only when people behave as if they have something to hide that things get out of control.

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China’s Censorship Policy Risks Inciting Discontent And Social Unrest

Feb 152012
 

John Keane is professor of politics at the University of Sydney and the Social Science Research Center (WZB) in Berlin. He recently published this inciteful and interesting commentary on the wider political and social dangers of censorship in China. The Chinese Government argues censorship is necessary to ensure social stablity but Professor Keane points out  the opposite is the most likely long term result.

James Madison famously remarked that a popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy. The present government of the People’s Republic of China has set out to disprove this rule.

Rejecting talk of farce and tragedy, its rulers claim their authority is rooted within a new and higher form of popular government, a “post-democratic” way of handling power which delivers goods and services, promotes social harmony and roots out “harmful behavior” using state-of-the-art information-control methods more complex and much craftier than Madison could ever have imagined.

Information flows in China are not simply blocked, firewalled or censored. The authorities instead treat unfettered online citizen communication as an early warning device, even as a virtual steam valve for venting grievances in their favor.

Heavy Censorship By Chinese Authorities As Sichuan Violence Continues

Feb 072012
 

The increasing unrest among Tibetan protestors in China’s Sichuan province saw three Tibetan livestock herders set themselves on fire in protest at Chinese government’s repression this week but few ordinary Chinese are hearing much about the events.

The China Digital Times  reports that the weekend immolations came just two weeks after Chinese authorities opened fire on Tibetan protesters in province.

It quoted the The New York Times saying: “If confirmed, the latest cases would bring the total self-immolations over the past year to 19, an unprecedented wave of self-inflicted violence among the tiny ethnic minority in China, according to scholars. They were also apparently the first by lay people, rather than current or former members of the clergy, suggesting that may be gaining popularity as a form of dissent.

The incidents took place Friday in a remote village in Seda County, once a center of Buddhist teaching, but reports did not surface until the weekend because the government has cut Internet and telephone connections to the area, said Tsering Woeser, a Tibetan poet in Beijing.

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China Calls For Internet Crackdown As The Government Eyes Middle East Developments

Aug 302011
 

Chinese authorities are still jittery about the power of social media in the wake of upheavels in the middle east. In the lastest development the state news agency has called for action agains rumor mongers and misinformations.

Britain’s Guardian newspaper reports that the call for the crackdown on  ”toxic rumours” on the internet, is the latest sign of the government’s desire to rein in the country’s rumbustious and fast-growing microblogs.

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United States Tech Companies Need Regulation In Dealing With China

Jul 262011
 

The New York Times has made a timely call in on its editorial page demanding legislation to stop U.S. tech companies doing business with China from contributing to that country’s online censorship and surveillance apparatus.

Commenting on the editorial the China Digital Times highlighted the point that Yahoo handed over data five years ago about a Chinese journalist who was then condemned to 10 years in jail.  After that incident Yahoo, Microsoft and Google joined in the Global Network Initiative to set principles that include protecting “the freedom of expression rights of their users when confronted with government demands, laws and regulations to suppress freedom of expression.”

It quoted the editorial and agreed with the sentiments that: “Voluntary guidelines are insufficient. Just as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act establishes that companies cannot bribe foreign officials, legislation is needed in this area.”

“Internet companies should not keep user data inside countries where courts convict people for what they write, speak or think. They should warn users about their risks, and they should never censor content. American firms were barred from selling crime-control products to China after the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. The list must be broadened and kept up to date. Firms could be barred from selling technology to eavesdrop on VoIP communications or powerful antispam systems that could be used to target political speech. Technology companies should be barred from tailoring goods to a repressive end.

The full editorial in the Times entitled “Enabling China” follows. 

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Chinese Censors Block Searches On Jiang Zemin Amidst Rumours He Has Died

Jul 062011
 

Rumors on the internet in China that former leader Jiang Zemin is dead has sparked a blanket suppression effort by the Chinese censors who have even blocked “Jiang” the word for river in an effort to contain the speculation.

While the veracity of the rumours are yet to be established it again hightlights the ludicrous nature of censorship in China – citizens cannot even know if a former leader is dead or what their current leader says in a CNN interview.

These sorts of restrictions on information only serve to fuel the more extreme claims annd conspiracies at the same time ensuring wide spread coverage and uninformed speculation. This is far more likely to be harmful than the not unexpected news that an ill, aging former leader is dying or dead.

Having power over information becomes so habitual for those who wield it and jealously hold on to it  that what little judgement and common sense the censors or those who direct them once had has gone out the window. This why closed regimes die from within – you can only keep the lid on for so long and in the days of the online world that lid has leaks.

Google news is carrying an AP report saying:  ”The Internet cat-and-mouse game over the possible death of a former leader underscores how secretive China’s Communist Party leadership remains — and the difficulties of maintaining that secrecy in a well-wired society.

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“The Internet In A Suitcase” U.S. Plan To Out Flank Repressive Regimes

Jun 222011
 

 

The United States is developing ways to allow citizens under repressive regimes to maintain free accesss to the internet and mobile phones

PCMag.com reports that the State Department-led project “involves the building of independent phone networks in foreign countries and the creation of a $2-million prototype “Internet in a suitcase” by an entrepreneurial outfit operating out of a building on L Street in Washington, D.C., The New York Times reported Monday.”

“The idea is to fit innocent-looking hardware components into a package that could easily be snuck into a repressive country and quickly assembled to deliver wireless service across a wide area to maintain crucial communications between legitimately protesting citizens, according to The Times, which cited “dozens of interviews, planning documents and classified diplomatic cables” it obtained.”

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Global Press Freedoms Hit New Low: Burma and North Korea Lead From The Bottom

May 032011
 
Washington based information freedom watchdog Freedom House released a study this week showing a worldwide decline in access to a free media.
While most of the crackdowns came in the middle east the Asian region had two of the ten worst offenders in the list in Burma and North Korea.
Thailand, Cambodia and China were also found to have a declining free press and restrictive online access.
The reports summary states: The number of people worldwide with access to free and independent media declined to its lowest level in over a decade.

Cyberattacks, Online Censorship And Other Internet Threats Increasing

Apr 192011
 

A dramatic increase in the number of people worldwide gaining access to the internet is being met by increasing censorship, cyberattacks and other efforts to limit what they have access to says a new report. 

China is among the countries at the forefront of this cyber control and sabotage.

The comprehensive stuy by democracy and human rights group Freedom House says cyberattacks, politically motivated censorship, and government control over internet infrastructure are among the diverse and growing threats to internet freedom.

 The report, Freedom on the Net 2011: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media, was released this week.

 Freedom House says these encroachments on internet freedom come at a time of explosive growth in the number of internet users worldwide, which has doubled over the past five years.

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