(RSF/IFEX) – Internet repression in China is still on the increase. Eighteen cyber-dissidents have been jailed for “subversion,” hundreds of sites and more than 8,000 Internet cafés have been shut down in recent months. The most recent case involves the closure of a bulletin board called Baiyun Huanghe (bbs.whnet.edu.cn) at Huazhong University of Science and […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Internet repression in China is still on the increase. Eighteen cyber-dissidents have been jailed for “subversion,” hundreds of sites and more than 8,000 Internet cafés have been shut down in recent months. The most recent case involves the closure of a bulletin board called Baiyun Huanghe (bbs.whnet.edu.cn) at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (central China). The bulletin board’s closure was ordered by the State Council on 5 September 2001 after students posted articles about the Tiananmen Square massacre. Baiyun Huanghe was created five years ago and had 30,000 registered users. The bulletin board monitored politics closely, particularly corruption cases. Until last year, students could freely express themselves about taboo subjects such as the Beijing Spring on this forum. The Chinese Communist Party’s increased control over the flow of information finally succeeded in closing the forum, characterised as “subversive” by the authorities.
RSF has posted a chronicle of Internet repression in China on its website (www.rsf.org). It is updated every time there is a new press freedom violation. The adoption in 2000 of three drastic laws limiting the circulation of information on the Internet has allowed Beijing authorities to launch an unprecedented wave of repression. A special police unit has also been created to moniter Internet content in China.
