Nobody's safe in China's Web squeeze

[dArKeR]

The detention of a girl who discussed democracy online sent chills down the spine of many Chinese despite the president's call for a more liberal society

AFP , BEIJING
Tuesday, Nov 11, 2003,Page 5

A Chinese crackdown on online activism -- highlighted by a mounting wave of arrests and trials -- is unlike other recent government campaigns, because anyone can become a victim, experts said yesterday.

The year-long detention of Liu Di, an ordinary Beijing student who posted democracy essays on the Internet, shows that this time the target is not just a well-defined group of open-mouthed intellectuals.

"What you see is a pattern in which the government is arresting more and more people who are not `dissidents'," said Bobson Wong, a New York-based researcher on the social impact of the Internet.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/11/11/2003075420