Information Society Watch

2006, Human Rights Watch

This report by Human Rights Watch documents the exact nature of censorship and surveillance practices by the Chinese authorities to curb voices of dissent over the Internet on topics including Tibet, human rights, and Falun Gong. The report describes the working of the all pervasive 'Great Firewall' of China that blocks traffic on sensitive issues. Cearly these censorship techniques would not have been possible without technology assistance from corporate America, particularly corporates like Cisco, Microsoft and their ilk. Equally involved are the supposed champions of 'democracy and free speech' like Google and Yahoo, which brazenly allow Chinese authorities to monitor e-mail conversations of alleged Chinese dissidents, leading to jail sentences for 'conspiring' against the nation. Lastly, the report gives personalised accounts of these dissidents, who highlight the magnitude of the censorship issue at hand.

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