p2pnet news | Freedom:- “China might bar live television broadcasts from Tiananmen Square during the Beijing Olympics, apparently unnerved by the recent outburst of unrest among Tibetans and fearful of protests in the heart of the Chinese capital.

“A ban on live broadcasts would disrupt the plans of NBC and other major international networks, who have paid hundreds of millions of dollars to broadcast the Aug. 8-24 games and are counting on eye-pleasing live shots from the iconic square.

“The rethinking of Beijing’s earlier promise to broadcasters comes as the government has poured troops into Tibetan areas wracked by anti-government protests this month and stepped up security in cities, airports and entertainment venues far from the unrest.”

So says the Associated Press as people everywhere who believe freedom of speech is a basic human right continue to protest China’s efforts to crush anti-government demonstrations in Tibet.

Once upon a time this kind of ‘protest’ would have easily been swept under the carpet. But thanks to the Net, that’s no longer possible, and the Chinese government fully recognizes the importance of the web as a communications vehicle.

For example, it dragooned an apparently unresisting Yahoo China into openly using its home page to splash posters of people ‘wanted’ by the Chinese government.

“What we’re seeing is China’s brand-new ‘Golden Shield’ surveillance technology at work,” says Lhasa Rising on Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), publishing the pic on the right of new surveillance cameras in Lhasa in 1) Barkhor market, 2) in the square in front of the Potala Palace, and 3) in the square in front of the Jokhang Cathedral.

Golden Shield, started in 1998 and officially launched in 2003, is sometimes called the Great Firewall of China.

It’s a, “censorship and surveillance project operated by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) of the People’s Republic of China,” says the Wikipedia.

It’s a database-driven remote surveillance system offering immediate access to records on every citizen in China and linking to vast networks of cameras, says SFT, going on >>>

According to the Canadian group Rights and Democracy, Western companies have collaborated with China to implement technologies like: speech recognition technology for automated surveillance of telephone conversations; the integration of face recognition and voice recognition technology smart cards for all citizens which can be scanned without the owner’s knowledge closed-circuit television to monitor public spaces

What this means for Tibetans is that they are under more surveillance than ever.

Now China can systematically arrest and torture any Tibetans even remotely involved in the pro-independence demonstrations; away from cameras, in the middle of the night, behind prison walls. A truly chilling prospect, brought to you by the Western companies named in the R&D report.

Irrepressible.info

“Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Nortel Networks, Cisco Systems, Yahoo! and Google have been specifically named by Amnesty International as being among companies implicated in helping governments censor the Net, or track down users,” p2pnet posted in 2006, continuing >>>

Now it [Amnesty] wants Net users everywhere to go to http://irrepressible.info to sign a pledge calling on all governments and companies to respect Net freedom.

“Internet companies often claim to be ethically responsible,” the human rights body states. “These pledges will highlight how their cooperation in repression risks making them complicit in human rights abuses and damages their credibility.”

Irrepressible.info was initiated following the success of an earlier online Net freedom project in the UK and aims to, “claim back the web as a force for change in the face of an increasing willingness on the part of technology companies to aid censorship and repression,”” says Amnesty.

“The Internet is a new frontier in the struggle for human rights. Governments,” says the site, continuing with the help of some of the biggest IT companies in the world, governbments such as China’s are, “cracking down on freedom of expression”.

In 2006 Amnesty produced a report explicating the roles of Yahoo!, Microsoft and Google in undermining freedom of expression in China.

Says the document >>>

All three companies have, in one way or another, facilitated or colluded in the practice of censorship in China. Yahoo! has provided the Chinese authorities with private and confidential information about its users. This included personal data that has been used to convict at least two journalists, considered by Amnesty International to be prisoners of conscience.

Microsoft has admitted to shutting down a blog on the basis of a government request.

Google has launched a censored version of its international search engine in China. All three companies have demonstrated a disregard for their own internally driven and proclaimed policies. They have made promises to themselves, their employees, their customers and their investors which they failed to uphold in the face of business opportunities and pressure from the Chinese government. This raises doubts about which statements made by these organisations can be trusted and which ones are public relations gestures.

It also states >>>

In defending their actions in China, Yahoo!, Microsoft and Google maintain they are under an obligation to comply with local law. They argue that although it is not an ideal situation, their presence in China is a force for good. They assert that without their input, censorship would still take place and that censored information is better than no information at all.

The reality is that the Internet has had an established presence in China for over a decade, which means that the world’s major Internet companies can no longer be considered to be helping bring the Internet to China.

Instead, they are attempting to gain an increasing share of a rapidly growing market in the knowledge that it will expand, with or without their presence. In effect their activities are facilitating and sanctioning government censorship rather than challenging it.

Companies appear to have been all too ready to accept the limitations imposed rather than exerting pressure for legislative and policy change.

‘ … smash Tibet independence forces’

In Tibet, today, “China turned its back” on appeals for dialogue with the Dalai Lama, “vowing to smash anti-China forces in Tibet, where it said the death toll from recent unrest had risen to 19,” says Hurriyet, quoting an editorial in the Peoples Daily, mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist party, as saying opposition to Chinese rule in Tibet must be wiped out.

“China must resolutely crush the conspiracy of sabotage and smash Tibet independence forces,” says Peoples Daily, “rejecting calls from US, European and Asian leaders for talks”.

The editorial, which amounts to a virtual policy statement, accuses the Dalai Lama of master-minding protests in Tibet, “in the hope of undermining the August 8-24 Beijing Olympics and gaining Tibet independence from Beijing.”

“The commentary effectively rebuffed growing international calls for dialogue to end the crackdown on protests that began last week to mark the anniversary of a 1959 uprising against Beijing’s rule,” states Hurriyet, going on:

“Earlier Saturday, China said 18 ‘innocent” civilians and one police officer were killed in rioting in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, raising its official death toll from 13.”

But, “Tibet’s government-in-exile in the Indian hill town of Dharamshala has put the toll from a week of unrest across the Himalayan region and neighbouring provinces at 99.”

And as p2pnet reported earlier in the week, at least 15 men were killed by Chinese forces when demonstrators protested an order to raise the Chinese flag over monasteries in the Ngaba TAP (Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture), according to the the Tibet Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi is demanding a probe into China’s claim the Dalai Lama has been behind unrest in the capital Lhasa, says Bloomberg News.

“However, China has responded to the protests with a massive clampdown on the affected areas, and on Friday released a most-wanted list of 19 people caught on film taking part in the Lhasa riots, amid warnings by activist groups of harsh reprisals,” it says, also stating:

“Pelosi said China’s allegations that the Dalai Lama has been behind the unrest in Tibet don’t ‘make sense’ because the spiritual leader is an ‘embodiment of non-violence.’ She was speaking after talks with the exiled Tibetan leader at his headquarters in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala.”

30-minute ritual

On Monday the symbolic start to events leading up to the Games is scheduled to take place in Greece on Monday when the Olympic flame is lit, notes Hurriyet, adding:

“The so-called sacred Olympic flame is to be lit during a 30-minute ritual in the presence of International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, whose organisation has been sharply criticised for its silence on the Tibet crackdown. Greek police told AFP that “stringent security” would be applied to deter anti-China protests during the ceremony.

“After a tour of Greece, the flame will travel to Beijing for an official send-off ceremony on March 31 for the torch relay on its journey across five continents. It then returns to China in May for the start of a domestic leg that includes three days in Tibet in mid-June after a scheduled stop at the summit of Mount Everest.

“Pro-Tibet groups have said they are planning protests along the international route of the relay and in China. Beijing insists such protests run counter to the Olympic Charter, which opposes using the Games for political propaganda.”

For updates, check out Tibetblogs.com.

Jon Newton – p2pnet

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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 at 8:43 am and is filed under Freedom, P2P. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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