China: Internet censorship on trial, day two

Is publicly notarized proof that your internet service provider has blocked your company website strong enough to seek damages? Just a week after National Legal System Propaganda Day, Shanghai-based IT blogger Du “Yetaai” Dongjin will have his second day in court where it is expected the defendant, China Telecom, will continue to challenge Du's evidence: courtroom 12, 5/F, #1 Intermediate People's Court at #1200 Hongqiao Rd., Shanghai, 1:45pm on December 11, 2007.

In a Dec. 2 post, Du writes on his Blogspot blog Very Beginner (also blocked):

公民杜冬劲于今年四月二十八日起诉上海电信违反服务协议。而原告的初衷,反对黑箱式监管互联网,带有强烈的宪法诉讼意愿。其在声明中说,结合上海市浦东新区法院的一审判决书和其中列举的证据,我们认为原告所列事实准确,所诉合情合理。根据我们日常的上网经验,我们也确认很多网站的访问在国内受到了无端禁止。然而,即便明知某个网站没有违反中华人民共和国法律,也无法通知有关部门承担责任,改正错误。杜冬劲在本讼中列举的证据,充分证明上海电信参与了监管这些网站的行为。中国电信全资拥有上海电信,结合我们分布各省的事实,中国电信难辞其绺。

On April 28 this year, citizen Du Dongjin brought action against Shanghai Telecom for violation of service agreement. The complainant's intent, to fight black box-style of internet supervision by means of a lawsuit, has strong constitutional grounding. He states: with the combination of the judgment passed by the court in Shanghai's New Pudong district and the evidence enumerated therein, we feel that the facts put forth by the complainant are accurate, and that the lawsuit is fair and reasonable. According to our daily experiences of using the internet, we can also confirm that the visitation of many websites from here in China has been subject to gratuitous prohibition. Yet, while knowing full well that such websites are not in violation of the laws of the People's Republic of China, there are no means by which to notify a relevant department to assume responsibility and fix the error. Du Dongjin has listed evidence in regard to this litigation which amply proves that Shanghai Telecom has taken part in the supervision of these websites. As China Telecom is the sole owner in Shanghai Telecom, combined with what we have shown is true in all other provinces, it is assumed that China Telecom cannot evade blame.

进一步,我们认为,无论上海电信在这个是否违约,上海电信及相关网络监管部门的网络监管行为违反了中华人民共和国宪法。而上海电信对于原告故障保修的回答,“非回复性原因”,更是对于公民道权(权利)的极端漠视。鉴于目前没有成熟的宪法诉讼流程,我们特对于全国人民代表大会,进行如下违宪审查的呼吁,希望有人民代表能提起相关议案,为中国社会的进步做出自己的一份贡献。

Further, we feel, regardless of whether Shanghai Telecom in this has breached contract, Shanghai Telecom and the relevant internet supervision department's supervision of the internet constitutes violation of the constitution of the People's Republic of China. What's more, Shanghai Telecom's response to the complainant of attributing the malfunction to “irreversible reasons” is all the more an extreme disregard for civil rights. In view of a lack at present of a mature process for taking constitutional action, we strongly appeal to the National People's Congress in regards to this unconstitutional censorship, hoping that NPC delegates will raise a corresponding motion and make their own contribution to the improvement of Chinese society.

Recently, Du has been calling on readers to join him in a class action lawsuit, emphasizing the relatively simple procedure involved:

非常希望更过律师或能法律专业人士加入本讼二审的联合辩护团,但不限于法律专业人士。二审开庭日期请见本文最后一段。希望本讼能成为中国宪法诉讼中的一个重要案件和公开舞台。基于此种想法,我,原告杜冬劲,和本讼目前律师,李立,共同邀请各位专业朋友报名。拟再邀请主讼律师一名(需要参加二审开庭),联合辩护团成员数目最多五名(签名即可)。请发送电子邮件和本人联系。

无论是否法律专业人士,只要您是地球人,能够读懂本文,如果您愿意通过真名签名表示支持,请打印诉讼介绍一节,签上您的名字和日期,扫描后发送电子邮件给本人,也欢迎您发送照片和简介介绍您自己。所有图片本人将汇集后刻成光盘出版。同时欢迎博客和媒体朋友通过各种方式转载,报道。

本人电子邮件,yetaai at gmail dot comg 去掉最后的字母g。

What I most hope to see are lawyers or other legal professionals join in a group defense for this lawsuit's second hearing, but not limited to legal professionals. I hope this lawsuit can become a major case and open stage for constitutional action in China. With that in mind, I, the complainant, Du Dongjin, along with this case's representative, Li Li, hereby jointly invite friends from every profession to sign up. The intent is to retain one more leading lawyer (to take part in the second hearing), and a maximum total of five joint complainants (only a signature is needed). Please contact this blogger via e-mail.

Being a legal professional is not relevant, one need only be of this earth and able to understand the legal text. If you are indeed willing to sign in your real name and express your support, please print out the case summary, sign your name and the date, scan it in and e-mail it to me. You're also welcome to send a photo and brief introduction of yourself. All images will collected by myself and burnt onto a CD-ROM to be released. At the same time, all blogger and media friends are welcome to pass on and report this news on in any way they see fit.

My e-mail is ‘yetaai at gmail dot comg’ but drop the last g.

An anonymous comment left Dec. 3 on that post reads:

楼上的说的对,你是先驱者,至于现阶段能否真正废除网络管制,我不太乐观,但是随着民众渐渐地觉醒,这个政策早晚流产。

I agree, you are a pioneer. As for whether internet regulation can be scrapped at this time, I'm not too optimistic. But along with this people will gradually start to realize, and sooner or later these policies will be aborted.

It remains to be blogged whether Du has found the five co-complainants he seeks, but in the meantime supportive news of his cause continues to spread, as well as resonate with other blocked bloggers:

我在Blogspot坚持了几年没有换岗,可是这个哥们(告杜冬劲)比我更执着, 不敢坚持,还一纸把上海电信公司告上了法庭,法院判决结果不管怎么样,支持一下这个哥们:

I've stayed strong here on Blogspot for a few years and I won't be moving [blogs] now. And this dude (complainant Du Dongjin) is even more stubborn than me; I wouldn't have been able to stick it through, taking Shanghai Telecom to court. Never mind how the court decides to rule, and let's support this dude!

And even inspire:

事情的原委就是杜冬劲不满GFW及中国电信随意封锁网站。在上海对这些变态提起诉讼。
具体事情的原委及如何支持他欢迎移步杜冬劲的博客http://yetaai.blogspot.com/。
还有一点,希望大家广泛宣传此事件,让更多人知道和关注!
另外本人在信产部对中国联通封锁WAP网站的投诉已经成功,联通承诺将进行整改。

The story behind this is that Du Dongjin was unsatisfied with the GFW and Shanghai Telecom's arbitrary blocking of websites. And took these freaks to court in Shanghai.
For the full story and details on how to support him, please step on over to Du's blog: http://yetaai.blogspot.com
One more thing, I hope everyone passes this news widely around, let as many people know and follow this as possible!
Also, my own complaint to the Ministry of Information Industry against China Unicom for blocking WAP sites has been successful, and China Unicom has promised to make amends.

2 comments

  • hehe

    从这次华南虎事件,彩票事件中就可以看出中共是吃屎的~
    虽然我非常希望杜冬劲能够获得胜诉,但我知道,这种胜诉的概率就相当于发现华南虎或者中1亿元彩票一样~不信?等着瞧吧~

  • >>Also, my own complaint to the Ministry of Information Industry against China Unicom for blocking WAP sites has been successful, and China Unicom has promised to make amends.
    ===============
    I don’t know you have this story. If 0.01 percent of China Broadband Customers have same action with you and me, there will be 10 thousand people sueing China Telecom. This way, I do belive that I will win this lawsuit. Let’s just move forward and see what can happen.

    I will continue to sue China Telecom even if I lose second judge.

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