Amnesty says two Chinese Internet users were executed

[R. A. Hettinga]

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=6422


Amnesty says two Chinese Internet users were executed

US firms "colluding" in State clamp down claim

By Mike Magee: Tuesday 26 November 2002, 19:05

HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATION Amnesty International issued a warning today on
its Web site that Internet users in mainland China could be killed by the
State for expressing their opinion online.

Thirty three people were named as "prisoners of conscience" today, for
apparently doing little more than expressing their opinions online.

Two "subversives" have already died in custody, it claimed.

And the statement, which it released today, also warns that overseas
companies were colluding in a crack down we first reported last August.

The full report is here.

One paragraph states: "Foreign companies, including Websense and Sun
Microsystems, Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks, Microsoft have reportedly
provided important technology which helps the Chinese authorities censor
the Internet. Nortel Networks along with some other international firms are
reported to be providing China with the technology which will help it shift
from filtering content at the international gateway level to filtering
content of individual computers, in homes, Internet cafes, universities and
businesses."

The report asked China - avowedly a police state - to release anyone
detained or jailed for using the Internet to express their views or to
share information.

American companies are helping China track down people that the government
wants to detain for "online subversion".

It has designated 33 people detained for using the Internet as "prisoners
of conscience".

Two people have already died in custody, the report said. AI says that
anyone surfing the Internet in China could be at risk of "arbitrary
detention and imprisonment".

There are around 60 million Internet users in mainland China, with the
numbers rising steadily. µ
-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cryptography Mailing List
Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo at wasabisystems.com