A Chinese academic has successfully sued an Internet company for closing his Web site after he posted articles on subjects including corruption and environmental issues.
Hu Xingdou (胡星斗), professor of economics at the Beijing Institute of Technology, said he hoped his case would encourage other users to protect their rights and net censors to make decisions more responsibly.
“I was surprised when I won. In the past, there have been people suing like me, but either the court did not take the case or they failed. This is the first successful case in China of a netizen or Internet user suing their Internet service provider,” Hu said.
“Some have said it is only an individual case which has met with an open-minded judge. But I don’t think so, though an open-minded judge may have played a part. Before the case started, it was widely reported by the media. The court must know clearly how significant the case is so the judgment must be a result decided after a group discussion. I consider it [a mark of] the progress of our legal system,” he said.
He now plans to sue the authorities who ordered the Internet service provider to act, but predicts his case will be thrown out.
“Suing the company is a civil case, but suing the net supervisor is suing the government,” he said. “It is a shame that the supervisor can currently define any information as illegal as there are not developed laws about this.”
Hu said the Beijing New Web Digital Information Technology Company closed his site in March on the grounds it contained illegal content.
He moved it to another provider, but decided to sue his former ISP. Last week the Beijing Daxing district people’s court ruled in his favor.
But he said: “The case does include political elements, for behind the company is the net supervisor from Suzhou.”
Hu and his former ISP are based in Beijing. But the academic said the company told him that because net censors are part of the Public Security Bureau, their jurisdiction was not restricted by region.
“Theoretically, every city net supervisor can monitor the whole nation’s Web sites,” he said.
He believes the Internet censors stepped in because he posted another writer’s article about media coverage of algae in a lake in Jiangsu Province, where Suzhou is located.
Beijing New Web Digital Information Technology Company declined to comment.
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