Lawyer arrested for talking about Twitter in public

Reporters Without Borders condemns China’s latest act of censorship against Twitter, consisting of the arrest of a lawyer while he was giving a class about the popular social-networking tool. Despite the government’s censorship attempts, Twitter still provides access to independent news and information in what is one of the world’s most repressive countries towards the Internet. “After blocking access to Twitter, the Chinese authorities are now targeting the university circles in which this social-networking service is very popular,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We voice our support for Tang Jingling, the lawyer who had the courage to publicly raise the sensitive but crucial subject of the free flow of information on Twitter.” Reporters Without Borders added: “This incident is indicative of the growing irritation of the authorities with Twitter, which is harder to control than the other social-networking services because of the different ways users can access it, not to speak of the online censorship circumvention tools that many Chinese use. Twitter is the new bugbear of the regime’s censors.” According to Radio Free Asia, Chinese Internet users joke that “the day Twitter is shut down, pigs will climb trees.” Tang was arrested while giving a class on online censorship and the use of Twitter to students at the College of Vocational Technology in the southern city of Guangzhou on 27 November. He was interrupted by a member of the campus security force and then taken away by police, who released him a few hours later.