The slow creep and chilling effect of China's censorship; Daily Dot, 8/20/16

Nithin Coca, Daily Dot; The slow creep and chilling effect of China's censorship:

"What's most worrisome is not the fact that China is monitoring everything, or that they may arrest anyone who shares sensitive content. It’s that the arrests and pressure that have already taken place is leading many Tibetans and Uighurs to self-censor—to avoid sharing anything that may raise suspicions. That’s the real reason Sonam Tso's self-immolation remained in the dark for so long.

“It's one the of the key elements of the Chinese censorship system, a proactive effort to induce a chilling effect, self-censorship,” said Carl Minzner, a professor at Fordham University and an expert in China and Chinese law. “This is much more important than the technical blocks.”

In other words, if people are too afraid to speak out on the streets, they won’t have the courage to do so online, either."