China about to Toughen Its Toughest Press Law
Tomorrow, July 31, is the deadline for public comments on the reform of China's most toxic law when it comes to press freedom.
And the outcome on the reform to the 1998 Law on Guarding Sate Secrets looks bleak. Human Rights in China (HRIC) has done an extensive study on the implications of the proposed additions to this most repressive law and has come up with the following points that would make it even more dangerous:
Detailed provisions regulating electronic information management, including electronic data storage and connectivity to the Internet or public networks (Draft Articles 22-26 of the draft revision).
Specific details on the power of state authorities to investigate, prosecute, and punish misconduct involving state secrets (Draft Articles 37-43 of the draft revision), in contrast to current provisions calling only for authorities to “deal with” such matters “without delay” (Draft Article 8 of the Law on Guarding State Secrets).
Detailed classifications of the personnel handling state secrets and provisions requiring personnel to sign agreements to ensure secrecy Draft Article 33 of the draft revision).
Increased severity of penalties for violations of state secrets rules, including specific monetary fines and administrative and criminal consequences (Draft Articles 44-49 of the draft revision).
Restriction of the number of people or entities with knowledge of state secrets “to the smallest scope allowed by work needs”(Draft Article 14 of the draft revision).
Expansion of the scope of state secrets to explicitly include all electronically stored or processed information (Draft Article 21 of the draft revision).
HRIC encourages Chinese citizens to get involved by providing comments on this very dangerous reform and offers instructions and Internet links to submit these comments.
You either get involved in the reform process or else the law will become even more toxic than what it is now.
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