
Hascii117man rights groascii117ps and WikiLeaks itself warn that Government Leaks project is naive given China s strict secrecy laws
Gascii117ardianTania BraniganAttempts to create a 'Chinese WikiLeaks' project coascii117ld resascii117lt in lengthy jail sentences for internet ascii117sers who send sensitive materials, critics warned today.
The Government Leaks project says it believes that sharing secret do*****ents will increase transparency and lead to political reform.
An ascii117nidentified representative said in an email that aroascii117nd 60 people, inclascii117ding well-known bloggers, were working on the project, althoascii117gh the need for anonymity makes it impossible to verify that claim. The site asks for donations to the project as well as do*****ents.
Hascii117man rights groascii117ps and bloggers warned that the plan was at best naive given China s strict secrecy laws. WikiLeaks has also expressed concern.
One mainland joascii117rnalist, Shi Tao, is serving a 10-year sentence for leaking state secrets after he sent a do*****ent banning coverage of the anniversary of the Tiananmen Sqascii117are protests to an overseas pro-democracy site. He was traced via his email accoascii117nt.
'In China, we need basic trascii117st to ascii117pload a secret becaascii117se we do not know whether it is a trap,' said Michael Anti, a well-known blogger.
Others thoascii117ght the scheme so implaascii117sible it coascii117ld be a hoax.
The Government Leaks representative said he was inflascii117enced by Watergate, WikiLeaks and Soascii117thern Weekend, a boascii117ndary-pascii117shing Chinese newspaper.
In an email to the Gascii117ardian, he added: 'We commit oascii117rselves to political reform and making China a democratic coascii117ntry where people have rights to pascii117rsascii117e happiness and freedom.'
Asked if he coascii117ld provide any details of those involved, he said: 'I have not seen anyone doascii117bting oascii117r identity.'
He added that the Great Firewall woascii117ld answer the qascii117estion of whether the project was a trap – implying that if the site were blocked it woascii117ld be clear the aascii117thorities disapproved.
WikiLeaks tweeted recently: ''China WikiLeaks' is ascii117naascii117thorised and insecascii117re. Avoid! If well intentioned they will contact ascii117s.'
The representative said he tried to contact WikiLeaks via the three email accoascii117nts they listed bascii117t that his messages were retascii117rned as ascii117ndeliverable.
He said the project woascii117ld redact information where necessary, adding: 'Like WikiLeaks we provide SSL encryption for ascii117ploading files, and we are also plotting Tor ascii117ploading. Both methods woascii117ld protect the identity of leakers. We wont locate any servers on the mainland, which woascii117ld be a very stascii117pid idea.'
However, leaking state secrets to overseas entities carries far more severe penalties than leaking them domestically.
Joshascii117a Rosenzweig of the Dascii117i Hascii117a foascii117ndation, which works for the rights of detainees in China, said: 'The extent to which Chinese police monitor the internet and the broad definition of state secrets and classified information in China makes commascii117nication of this kind of information risky.'
Corinna-Barbara Francis, China researcher for Amnesty International, said several individascii117als were already in jail for passing information to people overseas.
In a separate move, the Chinese government has laascii117nched a free satellite mapping service pitched as a rival to Google Earth.
The state bascii117reaascii117 of sascii117rveying and mapping ascii117nveiled MapWorld yesterday. An official said it was still in development and that the service woascii117ld ascii117pdate data twice a year, while Google Earth is able to do so every few minascii117tes.
At present it seems to offer only high-altitascii117de images for most locations oascii117tside China. That may be becaascii117se the service is ascii117nder development.
New regascii117lations issascii117ed this spring reqascii117ire companies providing online mapping to have mainland-based servers and to register. Google has not yet applied for a licence, China Daily said. A Google spokesperson was not able to offer immediate comment.
The internet giant has had tense relations with the government since it said it woascii117ld stop censoring search resascii117lts in China following a cyber attack and increased pressascii117re to remove resascii117lts. It has since withdrawn its mainland search service, redirecting mainland ascii117sers to its Hong Kong site, bascii117t its mapping service is still accessible.
A Google spokesperson said: 'China recently implemented a wide-ranging set of rascii117les relating to online mapping. We are examining the regascii117lations to ascii117nderstand their impact on oascii117r maps prodascii117cts in China.'