Program-think

biān chéng suí xiǎng 编程随想

Program-think's Blogspot Page (Source)

Program-think is an anonymous Chinese hacktivist-blogger. For more than 12 years, they maintained a Blogspot page where they posted content including domestic political commentary, how to evade China's Great Firewall, and exposés and criticism of high-ranking officials in the Chinese Communist Party. In addition, program-think also frequently wrote on a wide range of popular social science issues in the fields of history, sociology, and psychology.

From May 9, 2021, program-think ceased to be active on their blog and all of their social media accounts, sparking fears among readers and activists that the blogger may have been identified and detained by Chinese authorities.

Origins

Program-think's blog launched on Blogger on January 15, 2009. The author of the blog originally wrote largely about IT and programming topics, but from 2010-11 began writing on increasingly politically sensitive topics.

In 2013, program-think was nominated for best Chinese blog at the Deutsche Welle International Best of Blogs Awards. The author told the station that it was never their intention to write on politics to begin with, but merely wanted to share their years of programming experience.

"Princeling Network Map" and Github Controversy

On Feburary 29, 2016, program-think launched the "Princeling Network Map" on Github, exposing the connections and hidden wealth of high-ranking members of the CCP. The project collected public information from Wikipedia and reporting from international media outlets including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and others. In total, it contained details on more than 130 families and 700 individuals.

On June 8, 2016, China's quasi-official Cyber Security Association of China issued a takedown request to Github, claiming that the project slandered Xi Jinping.

To whom this might be concerned at GitHub:
The post at https://github.com/programthink/zhao/issues/38 vilifies our President Xi as a murder suspect, which is a groundless and malicious slander. We hereby express our strong concern and request you to take it off your website at the earliest time possible.
Cyber Security Association of China
June 8, 2016

The takedown request to Github was the first to ever be issued by China. Github complied by suspending access to the project for users in mainland China, but the project continues to remain accessible for users outside of the Great Firewall.

Evading Authorities

For more than 12 years, program-think succeeded in masking their identity and evading being arrested by Chinese authorities, despite continuing to reside and write from China. In 2019, to mark the 10th anniversary of the blog, the author published an exhaustive post documenting their experience evading China's cyber police, alongside a guide for readers on how to cover up their own identities online. An excerpt of the post has been translated by China Digital Times.

Why the Authorities Can’t Catch Me–A Summary of My Security Experience After Ten Years of Anti-Party Activities

January 31, 2019

I haven’t been online for several days, and some readers have expressed concern that something might’ve happened to me. Not to worry! I was still replying to comments as of the 21st. As of the time of publishing of this blog post, within a 14-day window, my silence counts as “ordinary inactivity.”

[…] “The Imperial Court wants to catch me but cannot succeed,” which shows that my defensive measures are basically reliable.

Readers familiar with my blog know that I have been discrediting the party-state for many years (from the first political blog post to today, it has been more than 9.5 years, rounding to the nearest ten years [sic]).

I remember that many years ago, someone said something to me in the blog comment area (the following is the gist of it):

You, child, can show off on the internet because the cybersecurity police haven’t noticed you; when they turn their eyes to you, you can count your days.

At that time, many things hadn’t happened yet, and I lacked the material to refute [the commenter]. Now I can refute it confidently – the relevant departments of the Imperial Court have long been eyeing me; unfortunately, they can’t do anything about me.

If you want to see the evidence, please read the “Ten Years of Running My Blog” post from several days ago. I’ve excerpted some of the main points:

1. As early as the 2011 “Jasmine Revolution,” I published a number of blog posts on the nature of “incitement.” (Note: those articles obviously discuss the major crime of “inciting subversion of state power.”)

2. In 2016, the Imperial Court issued a government takedown request to Github in an attempt to delete the “Princeling Party Relationship Network” project that I maintained. (Note: Github has a spine, and the project is still standing today.)

3. Two state-backed attacks against my Gmail account (Note: in 2011 and 2017 respectively)

4. A large-scale “screen flooding” [spamming of the comments section] attack on the comment area of my blog in 2017. (Note: the Blogspot comment system has a CAPTCHA mechanism. To achieve the requisite rate for screen flooding, you need a lot of Fifty Centers all at the same time.)

The aforementioned signs have already proven that I am a thorn in the sides of the relevant departments of the Imperial Court.

Having expended so much breath, I want to emphasize one point–my defense measures are sound!

In other words, I dare not say that my defense measures are perfect (perfection is impossible), but at least there are no obvious loopholes. Otherwise (if there were obvious loopholes), I would either be pursued across provincial lines, or my account would be compromised. How could I “willfully discredit the Court and viciously attack the party and state leaders” over the last ten years? […]

Additional translated excerpts of program-think's writing have been published on China Digital Times.

Detention

Program-think's blog and social media accounts have not been active since May 9, 2021. In previous posts, program-think had warned that any inactivity on their accounts for longer than two weeks could imply that they had been captured by authorities. On June 15, 2021, Radio Free Asia cited a social media account claiming that program-think had been detained in Shanghai and possibly tortured.

See Also

• Great Firewall
• 分类:People
• Scale the wall
• 五岳散人
• 人物馆
• 大明英烈传
• 林立果“五七一工程”纪要全文
• 石扉客2023
• 编程随想
• 西祠胡同

More from CDT

• Translation: "Program-think," Notorious Anonymous Chinese Blogger, Feared Detained

• 中文