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Chinese Man Sues State-Owned Cell Phone Company For Blocking Google
jfruh writes China is notorious for censoring the Internet for its citizens, and access in the country became particularly spotty last year as the government tried to block any commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Tiannamen Square massacre. But now one Chinese man is striking back through the courts. A 26-year-old legal practitioner is suing his cell phone company, the government-owned China Unicom, and demanding a refund for periods in which he was unable to access Gmail or Google's Hong Kong search page.
Hope he enjoys his unmarked mass grave.
The rule of law isn't quite ready for prime time in China. I applaud his courage, but I'm afraid he will wind up some place unpleasant. Deng Xiaoping made a deal with the people after Tienanmen: capitalism, as long as the Chinese Communist Party remains in control. This would strike at that control. The CCP, not the state, runs things.
Long Wang sure has a lot of balls to do this
What the hell are they supposed to use? Altavista!?
That a citizen believes he can openly criticize his government without peril means, at the very least, that public perception of China is improving.
Not to force a Snowden parallel, but he believed something like this once.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
He is suing from Shenzen, mainland China. It would have been different if he sues from Hong Kong, which has a more independent judicial system. My guess is that he will be counter-sued by the state for obstructing the government, disturbing the peace and spreading anti-government messages. The lawsuit has no change of success, meanwhile, the litigator has a pretty big chance of having some phony charges pressed against him, and may end up in jail.
It's funny, but even though it seems like a "momma state" issue that they block access to a website, I can't imagine someone suing a company for what the NSA or FBI did and being successful.
Police using heavy handed techniques and traffic lights to procure revenue in your area? Good luck with that.
We have this impression of China as a place where the state does what it wants without repercussions -- but this court case tells me that I've got to reevaluate that image. It's not the China of 20 years ago.
>>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
China
Have gnu, will travel.
Unfortunately for him, the judge is also state-owned.
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
Chinese Man Sues State-Owned Cell Phone Company For Blocking Google
Can I pay Verizon to block Google for me?
Brave Sir Robin ran away. ("No!") Bravely ran away away. ("I didn't!")
+1 I was going to say that
Ok first of all - in China, you can certainly sue state owned enterprises. It's likely about as successful as say, suing a corporation in the US with massive lobbyists, of course, and the guy acknowledges this. Second - in his own words - he's making a statement. Where's the class action possibility, I'd love to see how ridiculous it would get if it was opened up to be a class action of sorts, given that we're talking about hundreds of millions of subscribers all with gripes about censorship. To all the dumb fucks commenting above this - why you gotta hate on someone trying to fight for his rights, isn't that the FOUNDATION of freedom and a founding principal of the rights in the nations many of you call home? Give me a break, rather than be a douchebag why not be supportive of this type of positive fight.
More likely it will be a public statement about how, after a thorough examination in the courts, they found the phone company not guilty and how pleased he is with the result.
China of 2014 is not the same as China of 1974.
Will his lawsuit win...uh probably not but hes following legal channels and not publicly protesting. In theory hes not suing the government
hes suing his cell phone company.
Astalavista http://www.astalavista.box.sk/
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Hey! There wasn't any racism in that, was there Chinaman?
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Nonsense. They can't make him "disappear" with the world's press on the story like bloodhounds. They'll wait until a squirrel runs past, THEN kill him. But we will not hear about it because OMG, someone famous for being famous sneezed yesterday!
I don't think he's doing anything dangerous, just expensive.
And you could sue you State Authorized and controlled ISP in the US. It wouldn't be dangerous, just expensive.
You can also use the government in the US, and probably in China. The government may tell you to piss off in either country, but as long as you follow legal channels I don't expect it to be anything more than expensive.
N.B.: *IF* he were trying to initiate a mass action, then I expect that he would be in significant trouble in China. Moreso than in the US. China has shown itself to be quite touchy about that kind of thing. (The US has shown itself to be quite touchy in other areas.)
OTOH, it's quite likely that your closing line is correct. But that's also not certain. My real expectation is that robotics will develop fast enough that there won't BE any corporate serfs. What there will be instead is anybody's guess, and it depends on decisions not yet made.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.