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Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...37d08e-2192-11ec-a8d9-0827a2a4b915_story.html
Online Tiananmen museum is blocked in Hong Kong as Internet curbs widen
By
Theodora Yu
Yesterday at 7:04 a.m. EDT
HONG KONG — Access to an online museum commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre appeared to be blocked in Hong Kong, the latest regression for Internet freedoms and a strike against a symbol of what distinguished the city from mainland China.
The website, 8964museum.com, which chronicles the massacre in timelines and other descriptions, was inaccessible in the city without a virtual private network on Thursday but reachable from other parts of the world. The museum’s physical space closed earlier this year; police also raided it a few weeks ago.
The tightening of controls on material the Chinese government considers sensitive comes as Hong Kong moves to scrub official remembrance of the June 4, 1989, slaughter of hundreds of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing. For years, commemorations in Hong Kong were a sign of how the territory operated differently from mainland China under a “one country, two systems” deal. But an annual vigil held peacefully for decades has now been banned and the activists involved jailed. The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which wants accountability for the Tiananmen crackdown, recently voted to disband amid a national security probe into its leaders.
Erasing memories of Tiananmen fits within Beijing’s broader remaking of Hong Kong, using a far-reaching national security law to detain and silence government critics, activists and civil society groups. But Internet censorship could have wider ramifications for foreign companies in Hong Kong, according to experts, and harm its competitiveness.
Hong Kong telecommunications company PCCW said it had no comment on the issue. Other Internet service providers, Hong Kong Broadband Network and 3HK, did not respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for the Hong Kong Police Force would not comment on individual cases but said the security law allowed police to ask platform service providers to restrict access or remove electronic messages “likely to constitute an offense endangering national security.”...
Online Tiananmen museum is blocked in Hong Kong as Internet curbs widen
By
Theodora Yu
Yesterday at 7:04 a.m. EDT
HONG KONG — Access to an online museum commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre appeared to be blocked in Hong Kong, the latest regression for Internet freedoms and a strike against a symbol of what distinguished the city from mainland China.
The website, 8964museum.com, which chronicles the massacre in timelines and other descriptions, was inaccessible in the city without a virtual private network on Thursday but reachable from other parts of the world. The museum’s physical space closed earlier this year; police also raided it a few weeks ago.
The tightening of controls on material the Chinese government considers sensitive comes as Hong Kong moves to scrub official remembrance of the June 4, 1989, slaughter of hundreds of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing. For years, commemorations in Hong Kong were a sign of how the territory operated differently from mainland China under a “one country, two systems” deal. But an annual vigil held peacefully for decades has now been banned and the activists involved jailed. The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which wants accountability for the Tiananmen crackdown, recently voted to disband amid a national security probe into its leaders.
Erasing memories of Tiananmen fits within Beijing’s broader remaking of Hong Kong, using a far-reaching national security law to detain and silence government critics, activists and civil society groups. But Internet censorship could have wider ramifications for foreign companies in Hong Kong, according to experts, and harm its competitiveness.
Hong Kong telecommunications company PCCW said it had no comment on the issue. Other Internet service providers, Hong Kong Broadband Network and 3HK, did not respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for the Hong Kong Police Force would not comment on individual cases but said the security law allowed police to ask platform service providers to restrict access or remove electronic messages “likely to constitute an offense endangering national security.”...