Lawsuit highlights need for better Internet laws

• Source: The Global Times
• [21:41 May 26 2009]
• Comments

By Hu Xingdou

On the afternoon of March 25, I received an e-mail from Beijing Xin Net, my personal website’s hosting company, saying that my site had been taken down due to the “illegal content” contained in three articles posted on the site.

The articles in question addressed China’s “reeducation through labor” system, media’s watchdog role, and bribing activities of multinational corporations in China, respectively. They were all well-meaning and constructive, aimed at fighting corruption and encouraging China’s social progress.

Failing to find any “illegal content” in the articles myself, I called the company and was only told that it took action on order of the Internet police located in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province.

I was totally puzzled and shocked: How could the Suzhou Internet police and Beijing Xin Net decide what is illegal so arbitrarily and recklessly? Did they favor corrupt interests groups in China by deleting my online anti-corruption related articles?

Thus I decided to sue Beijing Xin Net. I knew it would be difficult because no one had ever won a case like this before in China.

But it was encouraging that 35 lawyers told me they would help me to win, and countless netizens, common people, and media professionals showed their support after they learned about the lawsuit. I was not alone in caring about justice and rule of law in this country.

The Daxing district court in Beijing accepted my suit and held a court session on May 12, pronouncing that I won the case mainly on the grounds that there was no proof that my website had illegal information. The verdict was delivered on May 20.

Before and after the lawsuit, many saw this case as a political event. I don’t necessarily agree. Probably the best thing to do at the moment is to not overplay the case.

My main objectives of filing the lawsuit are twofold. The major implications of my victory also fall into these two aspects.

First, I hope to promote China’s Internet regulation under the rule of law. There haven’t been any clearly defined laws or government policies with regard to regulating Internet information. What and how online information should be regulated remains ambiguous. Many parties engage in Internet surveillance and do it arbitrarily. I have heard a lot about how corrupt officials bribe those in charge of Internet surveillance to delete online information that is disadvantageous to them.

Since I won the case against the hosting company, things may change for the better: Internet policing will be more cautious and rational; the legal system and the government will consider drafting more well-defined laws and policies concerning Internet regulation; and netizens will have high hopes for defending their rights through law.

Second, I expect my lawsuit to contribute to the salience of online anti-corruption forces in China. My “troubling” articles have a common theme: anti-corruption. This has possibly offended some people. Their fear illustrates how powerful the Internet is in deterring corruption.

In a country where traditional media still has not fully developed as the “fourth estate” to supervise other powers, online public opinion quickly assumed the watchdog role, becoming one of the most threatening forces to corrupt officials.

I think the central government also wants the Internet to contribute to the building of a clean government. This is where the Internet in China can have its most powerful potential to push forward the country’s healthy development. And my case will hopefully engender some favorable results in that regard.

This article was compiled by Ao Lin based on an interview with the author, a professor of economics and an expert on China’s social issues in the Department of Economics at the Beijing Institute of Technology