Imagine this...you find an interesting news story on Google about the industry you work in. You decide to share it online, on an industry-related forum. A short while later after say, 60 or so page views, you're arrested, imprisoned, loose your home, marriage, and can't get a job because you're legal status is now "criminal suspect."
That's what happened to Zhang Zhijian, an R&D worker in the pharmaceutical industry in Haikou city. In April of 2006 he was arrested at his place of employment for re-posting an essay to two internet forums. The complaint was, "suspicion of damaging commercial reputation." The charges were made by a subject of the essay, local pharmaceutical company, Kongliyuan.
The essay that Zhijian had re-posted was an article he found on Google about how the state's Food and Drug Chief was taking bribes from Kongliyuan in exchange for approving new drug patents. He posted it to two different pharma industry-related websites. Within hours of posting and approximately 60 views of the article has was forcibly arrested and imprisoned!!
He has been under arrest for such a length of time that he lost his job, his home (to foreclosure), and has had to postpone his marriage. Even now a year later, according to the legal system there, he is still considered a "criminal suspect." He cannot get employment and has essentially been socially destroyed.
All of this for re-posting text on the internet, that he found, publicly, on the internet...that is very likely to be true.
Kind of puts getting buried, sunk, or flamed in perspective, doesn't it.
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