Repression 2.0

In other cases, Netizens are adopting a lexicon to dodge the new forms of repression. Allegory has become part and parcel of online political discussions in authoritarian countries. Bloggers and chat-room regulars are using the same techniques developed by the literati in the Eastern bloc during the cold war. "You see a lot more sarcasm and coded language," says the China Internet Project's Xiao, "but every reader shares a culture and knows what you're talking about. Even the human censors know what they're saying, but they can't go after them. The veiled critiques reduce political risk."

The next step for governments struggling to keep up with the flow of dangerous data may be a technique called data mining. One possible model: the Total Information Awareness project, a post-9/11 U.S. Defense Department idea that, had it not been shut down by horrified lawmakers, would have analyzed patterns of writing, shopping, e-mailing and surfing among Web users. The notion wasn't to watch everything people said—it was to scan their online footprint for patterns that might point to criminals or terrorists. It's easy to imagine Beijing appropriating the concept when it can muster the computing power.

That would scare Web users for years. Technology has a way of constantly changing, but authoritarians of the world have at least one thing going for them: spreading fear is easy, and the Web makes it easier.

With Zhong Menglu and Melinda Liu in Beijing, Christopher Dickey in Paris And Gameela Ismail in Cairo

© 2008