Falun Gong seeks US support in Internet censor fight

[Coventina]

Source: Reuters

BEIJING, July 20 (Reuters) - Ten years after a government crackdown drove it underground in China, Falun Gong is trying to position itself to get U.S. government funds to help defeat Internet censors worldwide.

The spiritual group's efforts to stay in contact with its members in China spawned a sophisticated effort to evade Chinese censors, which has now expanded enough that it was used by Iranian protesters to get around government controls in June.

A decade since the crackdown began, Falun Gong has spread overseas. There it has taken on a more political agenda against the Communist Party of China, which in turn still fears its organisational power.

At the centre of the effort is the Global Internet Freedom Consortium (GIFC), made up of about 50 software engineers and Falun Gong practitioners, said Zhou Shiyu, a faculty member at Rutgers University in New Jersey and spokesman for the group.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/mediaNews/idUSPEK3220820090720

[Romulox]

1. Secretary of State Clinton famously made any human rights discussion with China secondary

to economic concerns at the beginning of her appointment.