
Chinese woman jailed over Twitter post - J3L2404
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11784603
======
RiderOfGiraffes
People in the West will be up in arms about that, but it's happened in the UK
as well:

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/11/twitter-joke-
trial-...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/11/twitter-joke-trial-appeal-
verdict)

Something no one in their right mind would believe was anything other than a
joke has landed the tweeter two lost jobs, a criminal conviction, a fine, and
he now faces a lengthy and costly legal action to appeal.

<http://www.google.com/search?q=paul+chambers+twitter>

In particular:

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/11/twitter-joke-
trial-...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/11/twitter-joke-trial-appeal-
verdict)

------
corin_
"Her detention is a sign of how closely China's government scrutinises comment
on the internet."

It shows how they punish it, but that statement is piss poor. Here in the UK
(hi BBC, think you've heard of us, you've based here) we've seen an MP get
suspended for saying something on Twitter. I don't remember reading that it
was a sign of "how closely the British government scrutineses content on the
internet". Oh, that's right, it doesn't fit the image of the story correctly.

------
binarymax
'Re-education'?

Damn.

~~~
0_o
"re-education through labour" is the literal translation of the Chinese words
"laogai"(劳改), which is already in Oxford dictionary.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laogai>

------
wccrawford
My first guess was that she threatened someone.

Inciting violence is just about as good.

Seriously, why do people think they can say things like that, joking or not?
It's in the same category as yelling 'Fire!' in a crowded theatre.

~~~
exit
because the things we say online are more like thoughts in ones head than
words spoken out loud.

~~~
jhancock
I'm not sure the legal structure in China or the U.S. has caught up with your
position on this. You can be certain the U.S. Secret Service chases down
perceived threats from online and offline comments fairly regularly.

This is the problem: Too much change, too fast. Much of what we say online
today was prohibited to do so on the only available broadcast mechanisms in
the U.S. as recently as mid-1970s. Even once the laws and regulators started
to relax it took some time as the contents providers pushed boundaries. Its
only been in the last 20 years that people could "broadcast themselves".

China wrote its first laws to cover internet content less than 10 years ago.
This is very new territory.

------
lionhearted
> She had repeated a Twitter comment urging nationalist protesters to smash
> Japan's pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, adding the words "Charge, angry
> youth".

She's encouraging racially based violence... I'm all for free speech, but this
really crosses the line.

The closest American analogy I can think of would be for someone to encourage
the Ku Klux Klan to "string 'em up!" Seriously, I have Japanese friends that
won't go to China any more out of fear, which is probably something the
Chinese government doesn't want.

There's quite a lot of violence against Japanese businesses, and sometimes
people, in China these days. And that's a bad thing. The Japanese did bad
things in WWII, but the younger Japanese had nothing to do with it. Not to
mention, in the interim other Chinese have done much, much worse things to
their fellow countrymen than the Japanese ever did.

Edit: A year in a labor camp does seem excessive, but yeah, publicly
encouraging violence and rioting against a specific nationality of people is
not okay, and probably should be a crime of some sort, though probably with a
lesser penalty.

~~~
robryan
I guess your position and reputation come into it to, I could go insight as
much violence on Twitter right now and nothing would come of it.

Drawing a parallel though, if someone prominent with influence did this in
America what would the repercussions towards them be?

~~~
yread
Yeah? How about saying that you'll blow up an airport "sky high"?

~~~
maeon3
For those of you saying that no injustice has occurred here and saying that an
equivalent punishment would occur in America under these circumstances. Lets
review what would happen to this girl in America vs China:

1\. That person does not just "disappear."

2\. The person is permitted to speak with an attorney without answering police
questions

3\. The police must file charges within a short time or release the person.

4\. The person is entitled to a bail hearing.

5\. The person is entitled to a public and speedy trial.

6\. The finder of fact in the trial is a jury of citizens

But other than these things, its the same thing here as there.

However, China can't afford to jail people like they do in America, if they
did they would need to throw 500 million people in there. See the
incarceration rates us vs china.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_Sta...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States)

