Foreword: Internet as a tool for social control

[pynchonoid]

I'm guessing these dissidents wouldn't consider it
cranky to see the Internet as a tool for social
control...


from the BBC:

China jails web dissidents 
Four Chinese internet writers have been sentenced to
long prison terms for subversion. 

The Beijing Intermediate People's Court sentenced
geologist Jin Haike, 27, and Xu Wei, a 28-year-old
journalist for Beijing's Consumer Daily, to 10 years
each in prison. 

Yang Zili, a 31-year-old computer engineer, and Zhang
Honghai, a 29-year-old freelance writer, were each
given eight years. 

The men, who have already been in custody for 20
months, had set up an internet-based group, the New
Youth Society, which was dedicated to exploring
democracy and social reform. 

They had posted articles on the internet critical of
the Chinese Government. 

Their sentencing follows that last week of Huang Qi, a
Chinese web operator, who was the first person China
put on trial for internet crimes. 

One of the men sentenced on Wednesday, Xu Wei, told
the court he had been brutally beaten and tortured
with electric shocks to his genitals, according to
campaign group Human Rights in China. 

[...]  The Chinese authorities are keen to promote the
commercial potential of the internet, but are anxious
to control its political content. 

Reporters Without Borders estimates that China employs
30,000 people to watch what its people are doing
online. 

The group estimates that 36 people have been arrested
and jailed for putting controversial content on the
internet. 

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2946526.stm>

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