Forwarded From: "Prosser, Mike" <Mike_Prosser@tds.com>
AP:
JULY 29, 15:31 EDT China To Try Computer Engineer BEIJING (AP) - China
plans to prosecute a computer engineer for providing 30,000 Chinese e-mail
addresses to a U.S.-based Internet democracy magazine, a human rights
group said Wednesday. Lin Hai, the 30-year-old founder and manager of a
computer software company in Shanghai, was arrested on charges of
``inciting the overthrow of state power'' and soon will be tried,
according to the Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic
Movement in China. Prosecutors in Shanghai have completed the indictment
against him and plan to hand the case over shortly for trial, the group
said. Conviction generally carries a penalty of up to five years in
prison.
Court and police officials in Shanghai said they did not know about the
case. Lin's arrest in April highlights the government's determination to
prevent use of the Internet as a tool to challenge Communist Party
authority and strict control over information. China has more than 1
million Internet subscribers - most of them drawn from the educated elite
- and the numbers of new users are growing rapidly. Shanghai's Internet
police division recently has been reinforced with 150 additional computer
experts, the Hong Kong-based center said. Some Chinese Internet users have
found their access blocked or even had their computers confiscated by
police, the center said. The publishers of Tunnel, a weekly online
magazine featuring dissident writings, were arrested in central Jiangxi
province Monday, according to the U.S.-based Chinese Democratic Party.
The party's Web site and other pro-democracy online publications have
recently been wiped out by destructive computer programs engineered by
China's police, the party said. The Telecommunications Ministry, which
operates the servers that permit access to the Internet, seeks to exert
the same heavy-handed control in cyberspace that it enforces over all
print media, radio and television in China. Chinese authorities have
moved decisively to close information loopholes since President Clinton
finished his visit to China earlier this month, the Information Center
said.
-o-
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Received on Wed Aug 5 12:24:26 1998