Three web activists have been arrested in China over their use of the internet, in the state's continuing clampdown on online dissent.
It emerged today that academic and poet Liaou Yiwu, from Sichuan province, was arrested on Wednesday for internet-based political activity. Liaou, 42, had signed an open letter calling for the Chinese government to renounce its condemnation of the Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989. He had also posted poems and novels on websites based outside China after the Chinese authorities banned them from domestic publication.
Three other signatories of the letter are also being held, according to China Labor Watch, a US-based group that released news on Liaou's arrest.
Meanwhile, Beijing-based Li Yibin, 28, was detained in November, but the arrest has only just been made known to Human Rights in China, another US-based pressure group, through a network of contacts in China.
He published a website called "Democracy and Freedom", and wrote under the name "Yangchun Baixue" or "Spring Snow", a term that can also imply political reform in Chinese.
Li was arrested at about the same time as student Liu Di, was also detained. Liu, 22, used the online name "stainless steel mouse", and was arrested for expressing support for Huang Di, a web activist imprisoned in 2001. Her arrest was first reported two weeks ago.
News of the arrests follow an Amnesty International report last month that claimed at least 33 people are currently detained by Chinese authorities for publishing pro-democracy websites or, in some cases, simply accessing them.
"Amnesty International is concerned that there is a new crackdown on internet users, precisely involving those that have dared to post protests over others that have been detained," says Ian Durkin, a spokesman for the campaign group.
China's crackdown on internet-based activism is causing growing concern internationally. Amnesty's report, State Control of the Internet in China, documented 33 cases of individuals it believes are being held as political prisoners as a result of internet activity.
Three of those documented have died in custody and many others have been subject to torture and ill treatment. The report also alleges that 30,000 security officials are monitoring the use of websites, chat rooms and email.
The Chinese government said Amnesty International's report had "no basis whatsoever".
But Xiaou Qiang of Human Rights in China disagrees: "China has put tremendous resources into setting up a monitoring and surveillance system so they can control both the content itself and access to the content. And that has been extremely effective."
The internet presents an awkward dilemma for the Chinese state. Although China wants to harness the web's potential for developing an advanced information economy, it is also desperate to ensure new technology does not undermine the ruling Communist Party's grip on power.
Over the last few years, however, US web companies have launched Chinese versions of their sites, lured by the dizzying growth of the Chinese economy and the prospect of reaching over one billion consumers. Yahoo launched its Chinese website in 1999 through a Hong Kong-based subsidiary. AOL entered the Chinese market in a joint venture with Legend, the largest PC retailer in mainland China.
There are now estimated to be 50 million Chinese internet users with the number growing rapidly, giving China the world's second largest internet population after the United States.
But those most likely to take advantage of China's mushrooming internet infrastructure are also those least enamoured with the one-party state. Students in particular have flocked to the web.
As a result, the government has continually sought to place restrictions on what Chinese citizens can see, resulting in a technological cat-and-mouse game between the state and internet users. As ISPs began offering services the state started blocking websites it considered to be potentially subversive - international news and human rights websites, as well as Chinese sites critical of the government.
Many Chinese internet users got around the blocks by using proxy servers outside China. But the state has managed to restrict the use of those as well. More recently, the state blocked access to Google where web pages banned by the Chinese government were being made available. The state has since eased restrictions on Google, but access to its cached pages is restricted.
The Chinese authorities also compelled internet companies operating in the country to sign a "public pledge on self-discipline". The pledge obliges the companies to police their own services and inform the authorities of any activity that could be considered subversive. Western companies, including Yahoo, have signed the pledge.
"Internet companies advocate freedom and freedom of expression everywhere in the world," says Xiaou. "But when they get into China, not only do they have to self-regulate but they also have to comply with the security and surveillance regime there that is developing very fast. Foreign technology is certainly a big part of that surveillance."
A Yahoo spokesman refused to comment on the company's business in China.
But Amnesty says it is concerned about the agreements between major internet companies and the Chinese government.
"We fear that the Chinese authorities are using agreements with major internet companies as part of a wider attempt to restrict the freedom of expression and association of internet users in China," says Durkin.
Human rights campaigners are frustrated that western internet companies are not using their influence to push back the Chinese government's restrictions on internet use.
Durkin hopes this will change: "Companies like AOL and Yahoo have considerable power and influence. Amnesty wants them to use this to actively promote good human rights standards - not least, given that they are in the communications field, over freedom of expression."
