Political repression of cyber-dissidents
Encyclopedia
Political repression of cyber-dissidents is the oppression
or persecution
of people for expressing their political views in the Internet
.
Along with development of the Internet
, state authorities in many parts of the world are moving forward to install mass surveillance
of the electronic communications, establish Internet censorship
to limit the flow of information, and persecute individuals and groups who express “inconvenient” political views in the Internet. Many cyber-dissident
s have found themselves persecuted
for attempts to bypass state
controlled news media
. Reporters Without Borders
has released a Handbook For Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents and maintains a roster of currently imprisoned cyber-dissidents.
or expressing critical views about Islam Blogger Karim Amer has been convicted to four years of prison
ordered to "maintain the initiative in opinion on the Internet and raise the level of guidance online," "An internet police force - reportedly numbering 30,000 - trawls websites and chat rooms, erasing anti-Communist comments and posting pro-government messages." However, the number of Internet police personnel was challenged by Chinese authorities Amnesty International
blamed several companies, including Google
, Microsoft
and Yahoo!
, of collusion with the Chinese authorities to restrict access to information over the Internet and identify cyber-dissident
s by hiring "big mama
s" .
It was reported that departments of provincial and municipal governments in mainland China
began creating "teams of internet commentators, whose job is to guide discussion on public bulletin boards away from politically sensitive topics by posting opinions anonymously or under false names" in 2005 Applicants for the job were drawn mostly from the propaganda and police departments. Successful candidates have been offered classes in Marxism
, propaganda
techniques, and the Internet
. "They are actually hiring staff to curse online," said Liu Di
, a Chinese student who was arrested for posting her comments in blogs
"the nation's phallic symbol
". A regional court found Rakhmankov guilty of offending Vladimir Putin and fined him to a sum of 20,000 roubles (~680 USD).
In July 2008 blogger Savva Terentyev was found guilty of inciting hatred
against a social group of police officers and convicted to a year of suspended sentence for hate speech
, after a comment in the Livejournal
in which he made public calls to burn policemen alive in crematoria "like in Auschwitz".
on a web site.
Nguyen Vu Binh was released in June 2007.
Oppression
Oppression is the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. It can also be defined as an act or instance of oppressing, the state of being oppressed, and the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, and...
or persecution
Persecution
Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are religious persecution, ethnic persecution, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. The inflicting of suffering, harassment, isolation,...
of people for expressing their political views in the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
.
Along with development of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, state authorities in many parts of the world are moving forward to install mass surveillance
Mass surveillance
Mass surveillance is the pervasive surveillance of an entire population, or a substantial fraction thereof.Modern governments today commonly perform mass surveillance of their citizens, explaining that they believe that it is necessary to protect them from dangerous groups such as terrorists,...
of the electronic communications, establish Internet censorship
Internet censorship
Internet censorship is the control or suppression of the publishing of, or access to information on the Internet. It may be carried out by governments or by private organizations either at the behest of government or on their own initiative...
to limit the flow of information, and persecute individuals and groups who express “inconvenient” political views in the Internet. Many cyber-dissident
Cyber-dissident
A cyber-dissident is a professional journalist, an activist or citizen journalist who posts news, information, or commentary on the internet that implies criticism of a government or regime....
s have found themselves persecuted
Persecution
Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are religious persecution, ethnic persecution, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. The inflicting of suffering, harassment, isolation,...
for attempts to bypass state
State (polity)
A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
controlled news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
. Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
has released a Handbook For Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents and maintains a roster of currently imprisoned cyber-dissidents.
Iran
Mohamad Reza Nasab Abdolahi was imprisoned for published an open letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His pregnant wife and other bloggers who commented on the arrest were imprisoned too.Egypt
Several bloggers in Egypt are arrested for allegedly defaming the president Hosni MubarakHosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak is a former Egyptian politician and military commander. He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011....
or expressing critical views about Islam Blogger Karim Amer has been convicted to four years of prison
China
Chinese Communist Party leader Hu JintaoHu Jintao
Hu Jintao is the current Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China. He has held the titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2002, President of the People's Republic of China since 2003, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2004, succeeding Jiang...
ordered to "maintain the initiative in opinion on the Internet and raise the level of guidance online," "An internet police force - reportedly numbering 30,000 - trawls websites and chat rooms, erasing anti-Communist comments and posting pro-government messages." However, the number of Internet police personnel was challenged by Chinese authorities Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
blamed several companies, including Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
and Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
, of collusion with the Chinese authorities to restrict access to information over the Internet and identify cyber-dissident
Cyber-dissident
A cyber-dissident is a professional journalist, an activist or citizen journalist who posts news, information, or commentary on the internet that implies criticism of a government or regime....
s by hiring "big mama
Big mama
Big mama is a Chinese language neologism for an Internet censor on web bulletin board systems in the People's Republic of China.-Etymology:...
s" .
It was reported that departments of provincial and municipal governments in mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
began creating "teams of internet commentators, whose job is to guide discussion on public bulletin boards away from politically sensitive topics by posting opinions anonymously or under false names" in 2005 Applicants for the job were drawn mostly from the propaganda and police departments. Successful candidates have been offered classes in Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
, propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
techniques, and the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. "They are actually hiring staff to curse online," said Liu Di
Liu Di
Liu Di , writing under the screen name "Stainless Steel Rat" , named after the assertive Harry Harrison SF character, became a high-profile symbol for democracy and free speech in China since her detention in November 2002...
, a Chinese student who was arrested for posting her comments in blogs
Russia
In 2006 journalist Vladimir Rakhmankov published an article on the Internet where he named Vladimir PutinVladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
"the nation's phallic symbol
Phallus
A phallus is an erect penis, a penis-shaped object such as a dildo, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. Any object that symbolically resembles a penis may also be referred to as a phallus; however, such objects are more often referred to as being phallic...
". A regional court found Rakhmankov guilty of offending Vladimir Putin and fined him to a sum of 20,000 roubles (~680 USD).
In July 2008 blogger Savva Terentyev was found guilty of inciting hatred
Hatred
Hatred is a deep and emotional extreme dislike, directed against a certain object or class of objects. The objects of such hatred can vary widely, from inanimate objects to animals, oneself or other people, entire groups of people, people in general, existence, or the whole world...
against a social group of police officers and convicted to a year of suspended sentence for hate speech
Hate speech
Hate speech is, outside the law, any communication that disparages a person or a group on the basis of some characteristic such as race, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or other characteristic....
, after a comment in the Livejournal
LiveJournal
LiveJournal is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. LiveJournal is also the name of the free and open source server software that was designed to run the LiveJournal virtual community....
in which he made public calls to burn policemen alive in crematoria "like in Auschwitz".
Tunisia
Lawyer and human rights defender Mohammed Abbou was imprisoned for criticizing tortureTorture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
on a web site.
Vietnam
Nguyen Vu Binh was imprisoned for writing about violations of human rights, and Truong Quoc Huy was arrested for discussing political reforms in Internet chat roomChat room
The term chat room, or chatroom, is primarily used by mass media to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing...
Nguyen Vu Binh was released in June 2007.
External links
- The Internet and Human Rights by Amnesty InternationalAmnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
- Today, our chance to fight a new hi-tech tyranny by Guardian UnlimitedGuardian Unlimitedguardian.co.uk, formerly known as Guardian Unlimited, is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. Georgina Henry is the editor...