Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

China Detains Internet Users For Spreading Rumors

Posted by samzenpus on from the we-heard-you-like-jail dept.

alphadogg writes "Chinese authorities have started to detain Internet users for allegedly spreading online rumors, in its latest measure to control the country's social media sites. China's State Internet Information Office said it determined several online Internet rumors were fabricated, and instructed relevant departments to prosecute the offenders, according to a Tuesday report from China's state-run press agency Xinhua. The so-called rumors include a case where a user spread alleged misinformation about income tax provisions by forging state documents. The user was detained for 15 days. In another case, a Chinese college student from the province of Yunnan was detained after spreading what the government called a rumor on blogs and forums, about an incident where a man killed eight officials in his village. The 'rumor' had said the man killed the officials because of pollution generated from a cement factory."

59 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. One rumor by residieu · · Score: 3, Funny

    One rumor was that China would detain Internet users for spreading rumors.

    1. Re:One rumor by bennomatic · · Score: 1, Funny

      Hey, bro, I heard you liked rumors, so here's a rumor about rumors about rumors.

      or something like that.

      --
      The CB App. What's your 20?
    2. Re:One rumor by slick7 · · Score: 1

      One rumor was that China would detain Internet users for spreading rumors.

      An axiom, not a rumor, the tighter you hold onto something, the greater the chance of losing it.
      It is better to hold something with an open hand.

      --
      The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
    3. Re:One rumor by turkeyfish · · Score: 1

      Sounds as if you now face two counts. Lets hope that as the Yuan rises and absorbs a greater and greater share of the World GDP that they won't use the money to invest in the US private prison industry. No doubt there are many on Wall Street, who are prepared to trade on the prospect of broad exchange of cultural values, to facilitate a Chinese entry into our markets. After all without rumor, you can't really run a business. One has to create a brand. Its important that we all understand what that will be..

  2. Gasp! by catbertscousin · · Score: 2, Funny

    Someone posted a rumor on the internet! This cannot be allowed to continue!

    --
    No good deed goes unpunished. - Avon, Blake's 7
  3. irony by roman_mir · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    while in USA the more and more oppressive government managed to destroy free market, in China the free market is just maybe managing to destroy the totalitarian government.

    --
    You can't handle the truth.
    1. Re:irony by MetalliQaZ · · Score: 1

      Actually, I'm pretty sure that despite the ravings of TV pundits, the US is more free than China will ever be, market included. Also, I'm pretty sure this story was about the government crushing dissent and winning, and not at all about free marking bringing down the government. Mods, put out that flame.

      --
      "Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
    2. Re:irony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This is the problem with the slippery slope argument.

    3. Re:irony by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      In USA, big business controls the government.

      In China, the government controls big business.

      Neither country has free market (if you look at the big picture), but USA is definitely way closer to it than China.

      To get this in perspective, in China, economic crimes such as tax evasion or fraud, and even things that we would consider far less notable than that, can (and sometimes do) result in a death sentence. One recent case.

    4. Re:irony by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      In USA the government usurped power from the people, created all sorts of unelected offices and departments, which created tens and hundreds of thousands of various rules and government uses these to make money by selling special privileges to avoid the rules.

      In China government allows free market as long as there is no political competition and all of the investment capital and businesses came there and created all of these companies, built all of these factories and various infrastructures, and now this stuff is making Chinese wealthy enough that they are questioning the legitimacy of government and gov't doesn't like it.

      Neither country as free market, but China actually has the closest thing to free market, which is by de-facto the case (all of the investments and production capacity) and the government problem itself (it's now in a dilemma, all of this productivity made the Chinese too independent and difficult to control by centralized gov't system.)

      USA is nowhere near free market, China is much closer to the idea of free market, similar where USA was in 19 century and before 1913.

      The death sentence is all creepy and stuff, but this doesn't mean there is no free market, just the punishment for what they can catch you on is pretty severe.

      --
      You can't handle the truth.
    5. Re:irony by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      Are you seriously saying that China is closer to the "libertarian paradise" than USA?

      similar where USA was in 19 century and before 1913.

      And that sure was a great place to live in, right?

    6. Re:irony by turkeyfish · · Score: 1

      Clearly, the solution is in the Jacobean matrix and its determinant.

    7. Re:irony by turkeyfish · · Score: 1

      " created all sorts of unelected offices and departments"

      So the government sets out to save from destruction the environment of the planet upon which we depend for survival for and yet create and manage energy resources that the economy functioning. You think that problem is going to be so simple that it won't require lots of administrators and their staffs to actually make happen, or are we to just let that last shred of the natural world that keeps our environment healthy from pathogens and the predations of men not wise enough, too greedy, or too desperate to notice that they had stolen their own futures?

    8. Re:irony by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      This is a misconception. If you are in a Chinese Special Economic Zone, you might be right, but even there you are limited by the focus on attracting foreign capital. China still has cities that are fully communist, after all.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    9. Re:irony by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      similar where USA was in 19 century and before 1913.

      You can tell by this number that you are talking to a Federal Reserve hater, who thinks the worst thing in the American economy is the federal reserve.

      But even if he's right about that, he's still wrong compared to China, because the market manipulations the Fed makes is small compared to the manipulations the Chinese government makes. It isn't without reason that people want to label them 'currency manipulators.'

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    10. Re:irony by 0111+1110 · · Score: 1

      Or he could be referring to income taxes. There were all kinds of government expansions during that period. Even Prohibition, the start of the war on drugs, began not too long after. Whether you believe that laissez-faire is good or bad we lost any claim to it early in the 20th century.

      --
      Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
    11. Re:irony by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Could be. But my experience is that people who mention the year 1913 by date are invariably Federal Reserve nuts.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    12. Re:irony by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      Everything. Federal reserve, income taxes, prohibition (because in reality income taxes and prohibition are closely related, as prior to income taxes introduction, 50% of gov't funding was coming from so called 'saloon tax' - alcohol sales.) You can thank the feminist anti-saloon movement for ensuring that gov't started with the income taxes as well, by the way.

      --
      You can't handle the truth.
    13. Re:irony by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      The government sets out to do what? Gov't doesn't do what you think it does, it doesn't at all do what you think it does and it doesn't at all have the ideals that you think it should.

      Also no poor nation cares about its environment, when a nation is poor, the people in it are only concerned with what they will eat tomorrow, not how to make their environment more pleasant or clean, etc. It is absolutely necessary that the nation becomes very very wealth before it can ever start thinking about such secondary things as what comes tomorrow when environment is hurt.

      Also gov't is in fact doing everything it can to ruin the environment as opposed to what you believe, because all the offices set all these rules to make sure that only those companies, who pay for the privilege can get access to those resources. When BP spilled the oil in Gulf of Mexico it did so because it had gov't assurances on one hand, that any liability above 70 Million USD will be covered and on the other it couldn't drill in less deep waters due to gov't regulations. This is just another case of collective schizophrenia, designed to make it look nice for the public, get it out of the eye sight, don't let it be an eye sore, who cares about the consequences.

      Gov't owns all these lands, which is wrong, because gov't can't own anything, can't price anything, can't figure out what risk is. So it allows companies to do mining, like coal mining in the so called 'public' spaces, so the company doesn't have to pay for the place, it doesn't have to buy it, it doesn't have to pay rent or royalties, and even whatever royalties it does pay are not market set (so they are definitely wrong and likely to the low side.)

      However because the land is 'public' and company didn't buy it and doesn't have to sell it, it just destroys it. That's what mountain strip mining is - they destroy the mountains, drop the rocks into valleys/lakes/rivers/forests, destroy those lands, don't have to sell those lands, don't have to be responsible to a real owner about any of the damage, and you think that gov't 'sets out to save .... environment of the planet'.

      Which planet do you come from that you don't know simple things? Gov't is not there to help you, it exists just to occupy the power-vacuum and politicians go there to get rich, not to do anything closely related to actual 'sacrifice' (as it used to be in USA at first).

      As to administrators - that's right. We don't need gov't regulations because markets regulate much better.

      If you don't buy a product and many people don't buy it, the company goes bust. If you buy a product and many other individuals do, the company makes profit and you get a nice product you like.

      You think gov't is full of wise man who will do something to help you and it's not full of greedy people who are just NOT smart enough to do this in private business, but ARE smart enough to figure out how to steal it without work?

      How old are you?

      --
      You can't handle the truth.
    14. Re:irony by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      No, the person doesn't have to be smarter to be able to profit massively in a system that is basically designed to be corrupt.

      The people who are in government are mostly massively incompetent in almost anything, but they are still competent at selling power, and in reality that's a product that's EASY TO SELL. They don't have to go and sell it :) Lobbyists come to them with the money, it's hard not to make massive amounts of money even if you are as dumb as a bush.

      --
      You can't handle the truth.
    15. Re:irony by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      Politicians also have to be connected, it's not easy to be elected in the first place, so there is something there, they are not the dumbest of the dumb.

      But they also don't end up building profitable companies and they don't end up with hundreds of millions and billions of dollars, so they are clearly not as smart as many businessmen, but they are much lazier.

      --
      You can't handle the truth.
    16. Re:irony by Remus+Shepherd · · Score: 1

      Actually, I'm pretty sure that despite the ravings of TV pundits, the US is more free than China will ever be, market included.

      You are wrong. You are wrong de-facto, as China attracts more and more investment capital and talent (the same way USA used to back in 19 and beginning of 20th centuries) and USA is losing it.

      Why would you correlate increased corporate activity with more freedom? It seems to me that the opposite is true. Especially in China, where corporations willingly help the government impose their totalitarian policies.

      --
      Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
    17. Re:irony by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      , 50% of gov't funding was coming from so called 'saloon tax'

      Wow that sounds like such a free market. :/ Come on man, crony capitalism was huge before 1913. As a starting point, think of Boss Tweed. And that's just the surface.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    18. Re:irony by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      Maybe everybody should be a politician then?

      People actually do things not just because of money but because they like to create something. Businesses are always innovating in some ways, trying to make the work cheaper, make the product more attractive, find a way to get more of the market and set the right price. It is a lot of creative work.

      AFAIC an average businessman millionaire is NOT paid enough for all the work they do, but an average politician is definitely overpaid, so I can't argue that they are not smart about making their money that way. But top politicians can't compare to top businessman in anything.

      However if the politician is a dictator, then it's a completely different story. Sure, in a dictatorship the top guy is the richest and most powerful.

      --
      You can't handle the truth.
    19. Re:irony by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      Only if everybody can be equally smart

      - oh, so if everybody was equally smart, then everybody would be a politician?

      1. Nobody would be eating.
      2. Not every smart person wants to be a politician, as I said - plenty of smart people are interested in things that they ultimately build businesses out of, but their interests may have been other than just making the most money. Maybe making the most money is only a consequence of an interesting hobby somebody has that he finds a way to monetize eventually.

      More proof that politicians are smarter than businessmen.

      - no it doesn't, not when you look at absolute numbers.

      A businessman making 2-10 million a year is better off than a politician who is making maybe 500K-2million a year based on bribes and such, so sure, the millionaire is underpaid, but he is still making more money in dollar amounts while the government worker is overpaid (and belongs in jail likely for all the things he does), but in dollar amounts he is on a different scale.

      Of course you can't, because by the time you reach the top, they're one and the same anyway.

      - Steve Jobs was running his company but he wasn't running governments, though surely he was making some deals in the process of running his company, probably deals concerning things like tax breaks.

      I don't agree that politicians are smarter than businessmen in general, I agree that there are some very smart politicians, but then there are some very smart businessmen.

      But my point is that I would rather see smart people in private sector using their intelligence and productivity improving everybody's quality of life by building good products at attractive prices to compete and make money rather than having all these lawyers (most politicians are), come up with more laws so they can sell more privileges, sell more access and make money basically by stealing from all sides and destroying the economy in the process.

      However politicians are definitely good at shifting the blame (until they are killed by the crowds, like what we just saw in Libya.)

      --
      You can't handle the truth.
  4. They call it rumors... by ericloewe · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    ...but how do people know they're just rumors? Even is they *are* rumors, they're just giving them credibility and worsening their image. That said, forging state documents should be punished, at least to scare him and keep him from doing it again.

    1. Re:They call it rumors... by X0563511 · · Score: 2

      Indeed. At what point do interesting stories and allegory turn into rumor?

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    2. Re:They call it rumors... by turkeyfish · · Score: 1

      When everyone is too fearful to say anything ever. At that point a stable equilibrium is reached given the total absence of communication of any kind. Civilization as we have known it will cease.

  5. Re:I'm not sure by Hartree · · Score: 2, Funny

    "But I think the Chinese government is opressive and overly controlling. Allegedly."

    It's just a malicious rumor with no basis in fact. And we'll arrest anyone who says otherwise.

  6. False rumor by Hentes · · Score: 2

    Seriously, does anyone believe false rumors like this when the Chinese foreign ministry said that they "protect the freedom of expression of citizens in China,"?

    1. Re:False rumor by pipedwho · · Score: 1

      The only difference between defamation/ libel and false reporting, is that a false report doesn't really target anyone (so no 'victim' per se beyond the public trust).

      IMO, news reports should be held to the same generic standard of verifiability as a direct accusation. This crap where Fox news gets Legal protection to make up any garbage they want as long as it doesn't defame anyone, and 'report' it like it's real, is a scourge on the name of the press.

      The same should apply to any type of high profile blog or rumour mill.

    2. Re:False rumor by rickb928 · · Score: 1

      You're right, that never happens anywhere else in the credible, accepted mass media.

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    3. Re:False rumor by H0p313ss · · Score: 2

      Seriously, does anyone believe false rumors like this when the Chinese foreign ministry said that they "protect the freedom of expression of citizens in China,"?

      We have always been a war with Eastasia.

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    4. Re:False rumor by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      Fox News, your televised tabloid!

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    5. Re:False rumor by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      Reminds me of something I heard, that the Soviet Union had better freedom protections than the US. In the Soviet Union, not only did their 'Bill of Rights' protect freedom of speech, it also protected the right to protest, and condemns those who prevent protests. And yet it was only a piece of paper. We all know how well that worked.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    6. Re:False rumor by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      More or less like that, yes.
      The second and the third Soviet constitutions (of 1936 and of 1977 respectively) indeed guarantees - among of other rights and freedoms - the freedom of speech, the freedom of press, the freedom of assembly and the right to protest. I haven't found anything about condemnations of the preventers there, but then again I only scanned quickly over the text.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  7. Re:Finally! by cornface · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    The punishment for not sending it is far worse. Why, one woman in Ohio failed to send the letter and was later murdered in her sleep by a ghost.

  8. Not "user" you asshole. by pclminion · · Score: 1

    We are human beings, not "Internet users."

    1. Re:Not "user" you asshole. by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      I don't believe that you are a human, you are an AI troll.

      That's right, you all heard me right here, on /. This is not a rumor, this is true. Please make sure everybody knows.

      --
      Do I win the Internets?

      --
      You can't handle the truth.
    2. Re:Not "user" you asshole. by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      I see a problem here. Your statement implies that intelligence is compatible with troll when it clearly is not.

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    3. Re:Not "user" you asshole. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Who is number 1?!

      You are number 6.

    4. Re:Not "user" you asshole. by gearloos · · Score: 1

      Hey, if it's good enough for Tron (or Alan Bradley at least), It's good enough for me.. User. lol

      --
      "Computers are a lot like Air Conditioners" "They both work great until you start opening Windows"
  9. Lies! Slander! by Arancaytar · · Score: 2

    The Chinese government did NOT arrest anybody, nor is there a limit on free speech in China! This is a lie and a completely unfounded rumor, and you are in violation of China's non-existent free speech laws. Please stand by for questioning; you will be collected.

  10. On a serious, note by rickb928 · · Score: 1

    1. The concept that you can attribute blog posts to an individual, since it is not merely obvious but assured that they posted it, no matter what it is, if their identity is on it, well, that's an interesting concept. And naive.

    2. Since identity is so difficult to be sure on on the Internet, we'll be seeing Chinese government accusations and wondering if they just fabricated the rumor postings to justify imprisonment. Yeah, I just wrote that.

    3. And since Internet in China is entirely open and unfettered by government control, we would have no reason to question their findings, Right?

    4. yes, I'm, not forgetting. Even in the U.S. the government would very much like to have the same laws, for the same reasons, and with the same results.

    We are in a LOT of trouble here, my friends. Time to start paying more attention to who you vote for. And to start educating them about technology and how it should be used and not abused. But I'm afraid it's already too late.

    --
    deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    1. Re:On a serious, note by X0563511 · · Score: 2

      Time to start paying more attention to who you vote for. And to start educating them about technology and how it should be used and not abused. But I'm afraid it's already too late.

      When has it NEVER been time to do that? It's unfortunate that everyone seems to believe the time to do so is at some point in the future, excepting the few who think "now" and the even fewer who think "always."

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    2. Re:On a serious, note by MurukeshM · · Score: 1

      You mean I should sit on a serious (serious sam, perhaps) and note it? Sorry. :) Also on a serious note, that's what happens when those in power haven't the faintest idea what they're on about. Like the new American CIO spouting buzzwords or the judge in Britain wanting BT to block 0.0.0.0/0. I still am not sure that voting for a different candidate is going to make a difference. :(

  11. Re:Retaliation is called for by X0563511 · · Score: 1

    I already do this for my server.

    Sorry, China. Your people have no need to be accessing my resources, so they won't be.

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  12. I'm glad I am able to spread rumors in the USA by Roark+Meets+Dent · · Score: 1

    It is good to live in the USA, where people are free to spread "rumors" that the government deems to be untrue. Here is a "rumor" (cough, cough) that the government is secretly abducting citizens and implanting their brains.

  13. Rumor by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 1

    Be glad that you are not in China to be detained for this Rumor!

    Really, there's a thin line between humor and rumor.

    --
    My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
    1. Re:Rumor by turkeyfish · · Score: 1

      Sadly as the world heats and as human attention is focused elsewhere there will reach a point at which the distinction will be irrelevant. Humans probably only have 100-300 years to do this to themselves and then their cooked.

  14. Re:Retaliation is called for by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I already do this for my server.

    Sorry, China. Your people have no need to be accessing my resources, so they won't be.

    No problem, Capitalist. That's what proxies are for. There's always at least one, and that's all we need.

    XOXOXO, China

  15. Yo Dawg by kelemvor4 · · Score: 1

    I heard you like rumors so I made a rumor of your rumor so you can spread rumors while you spread rumors.

  16. Re:I fail to see the outrage by MurukeshM · · Score: 2

    Okay, Pearl Harbour, perhaps? I'm not American, so I'm not sure which incident would do that best. But its like they say, everyone has his price. Or is it tipping point? Whatever. I prefer football transfer rumours. :P

  17. Oh noes! by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 2

    Where will we get our iPhone 5 rumors now?!

  18. Re:I fail to see the outrage by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

    Okay, Pearl Harbour, perhaps? I'm not American, so I'm not sure which incident would do that best.

    Nope.

    Hell, be a member of the Nazi Party? No problem.

    Ditto the Klan. Or the Communist Party.

    Say what you like about whomever...

    Unless you threaten them, of course. That's getting into criminal areas. Secret Service will visit if you threaten the Pres, at least till they decide you're a harmless net-troll....

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  19. Re:Finally! by turkeyfish · · Score: 1

    This would the ultimate irony if the Chinese spend the money they have made off of Americans by enslaving their citizens and paying their police and information ministers in an effort to do so. Let us hope that somewhere we can find wisdom.

  20. Re:I fail to see the outrage by turkeyfish · · Score: 1

    Heck, you don't have to get that exotic. All these groups have merged into the republican party, especially the Stalnist goon agitators determined to use state authority to control the will of the American people to freely assemble and state their grievances.

  21. Re:Finally! by flyneye · · Score: 1

    That's it. We'll send fortune cookies full of wisdom. Communist officials will soon recant their ways, hold hands and sing "Kum Ba Yah".

    Just try to think of China as a REAL LARGE corporation, a business, with subsidiaries (Korea,N.Vietnam,etc.),stockholders( party members), management (authority figures) and flunky workers (Ten Jillion Chinese), then your perspective will make more sense every time you hear about their evil ways. It's for the profit, f**k the environment, the populace and any other country who disagrees with your very VERY lucrative business model. Just Lie! It's worked all this time. What information is good for the people can be fed to the world who doesn't dare embargo for fear of the loss of all the plastic crap exported to Wal~Mart and other outlets.

              I hope their communist balls fall off, just from the vibe of the rest of the world.

    --
    *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
  22. I heard.... by Methos137 · · Score: 1

    I heard a rumor that there really isn't any internet traffic out of china, that all they really have is government teams of people posting stuff out for them to make us think they're actually connected. Instead all the people are actually surgically connected into the world's most powerful HUMANCENTiPAD.