Expressing an opinion online in China can result in jail, torture and even death.

Chat rooms are monitored. Blogs are deleted. Search results are re-routed. Websites are blocked. The Government is watching your every move.

Search for a blacklisted site like Amnesty International or BBC News and you will get an error message. Search for words like democracy or Tibet in a search engine and your session will time out.

No one knows what the authorities are censoring – it's kept deliberately vague to instill fear and uncertainty in Internet users.

Innocent people imprisoned

Citizens can be imprisoned for sending emails, posting blogs or passing on information deemed to be ‘sensitive’.

Shi Tao is a Chinese journalist and poet. Like all Chinese journalists, he is banned from reporting on the Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989. After sending an email to America describing this ban, he was tracked down with the help of Yahoo! and sentenced to ten years in prison by the Chinese Authorities.


Shi Tao © PEN

Everyone has the right to express an opinion and access information without fear that it will bring retribution, violence or death.

End Internet Censorship

In China the Internet has become a new frontier in the fight for human rights.

By censoring the Internet the Government knows that people can't be certain what is really happening. They know that greater transparency would expose many human rights abuses.

Add your support to end Internet censorship becoming a Human Rights Defender. Give a regular gift of $25 per month and help free innocent people like Shi Tao.

Use your freedom to stand up for those who have none.

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