huridocs-tech Computer Industry Must Speak Out On Chinese Internet Case

Computer Industry Must Speak Out On Chinese Internet Case

(New York, January 20, 1999) -- Human Rights Watch is urging major
Internet service providers such as Microsoft, America On-Line, and AT&T to
publicly condemn the two-year jail sentence handed down earlier today to
Lin Hai, a computer company owner in Shanghai.
          
Lin Hai was tried on December 4 in a thirty-minute trial; on January 20,
he was found guilty of "incitement to subvert the state" and sentenced for
providing some 30,000 Chinese e-mail addresses to a U.S.-based on-line
magazine.  The magazine, V.I.P Reference News, is run by Chinese
dissidents in Washington. 
          
"This harsh punishment reflects the Chinese government's anxiety about
growing use of the Internet, and its own inability to control information
flows," said Sidney Jones, Asia director of Human Rights Watch. "It
warrants a strong response, not just from human rights organizations but
from the computer software industry as well, particularly from companies
trying to expand the market for Internet usage."  Jones said that Human
Rights Watch hoped to see a public statement on the Lin Hai case from
industry giants like Microsoft. 

Lin Hai's case follows a series of recent attempts by the Chinese
government to step up monitoring of e-mail communications. Chinese
authorities control access to the World Wide Web via the Ministry of Post
and Telecommunications.  They routinely block access to the web sites of
many foreign media and some human rights groups, including Human Rights
Watch.
          
Human Rights Watch said the arrest and sentencing of Lin Hai was a clear
violation of freedom of expression, a right guaranteed not only by a major
treaty that China has just signed, the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, but also by the Chinese constitution.


For more information contact:

Mike Jendrzejczyk (Washington, DC)      +1 202 371-6599, x113            
Sidney Jones (New York)            +1 212 216-1228              
Jagdish Parikh (New York)         +1 212 216-1214 



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