From Global Voices Advocacy:
2009 is a political sensitive year in China. Apart from the 60th anniversary of PRC, it is also the 20th anniversary of Tienanmen Massacre and the 50th anniversary of Dalai Lama’s exile. Moreover, natural disasters, social unrests and ethnic conflicts come one after the other. Social and political control began to tighten up early this year.
In the Internet, several major social media, such as fanfou (a Chinese website similar to twitter) and douban have been suspended. Major overseas websites, such as youtube and twitter have been blocked. The Golden Shield was equipped with Blue Dam or Blue Shield. Moreover, the government also tries to block the access to major circumvention tools such as TOR.
In term of law and regulation, most of the websites are now demanding real identity login and pressure were given to web managers to remove sensitive and critical comments within a few minutes.
Yesterday, on 8 of October, 15 Chinese intellectuals, including writers, scholars and lawyers, jointly issued the an online Internet Human Rights Declaration reinstating the citizen’s rights to access and disseminate information.
Read the full text of the declaration at Catherine Yeung’s Under the Jacaranda Tree.
