Author Description

"This report analyzes the political use of the Internet by Chinese dissidents, Falungong practitioners, Tibetan activists, and other groups and individuals in the PRC and abroad who are regarded as subversive by the authorities in China. It also examines the counterstrategies that Beijing has employed to prevent or minimize the political impact of such use of the Internet. By permitting the global dissemination of information with greater ease and rapidity than ever before, the Internet enables small groups of activists, and even individuals, to exercise influence disproportionate to their limited manpower and financial resources. In its counterstrategies, the PRC regime has made some use of high-tech solutions, and there is some evidence that Beijing¹s technical countermeasures are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Its approach, however, is predominantly "low-tech Leninist," employing traditional measures such as surveillance, informants, searches, and confiscation of computer equipment. Beijing's countermeasures have been relatively successful to date. No credible challenges to the regime exist despite the introduction of massive amounts of modern telecommunications infrastructure. However, the scale of China's information-technology modernization suggests that time may be on the side of the regime's opponents."--Rand abstracts.