Chinese E-mailer Gets Jail

So you think you hate spam e-mail. Consider the Chinese authorities. On Wednesday, a Chinese court convicted a software entrepreneur of subversion -- and packed him off to jail for two years -- for giving the e-mail addresses of 30,000 Chinese computer users to a publication called VIP Reference. Chinese authorities felt the need to intervene because VIP Reference is a pro-democracy journal published on the Internet by Chinese dissidents in the U.S. "The Chinese response was not surprising" says TIME senior foreign correspondent Johanna McGeary. "The authorities have long realized that knowledge is power and dangerous for them." The cyberspace angle, however, rendered this a particularly significant case.

The potential of the Internet has quickly tightened the bind for the Chinese government. "On the one hand, authorities know they need computers for economic progress," says McGeary. "But the downside is what actually happens when people have access to computers." The anarchic nature of the Internet makes it very difficult for a controlled society to... well, control. "What is fascinating," says McGeary, "is how deeply the authorities seemed to feel was the threat in this case." Subversion is one of China's most serious crimes. As such, the Chinese response represents one of the best testimonials yet to the potential of the Internet.