As the CCP cracks down on speech in Hong Kong and conducts high-profile arrests of local democracy activists, CIRA has released a new report entitled TRAMPLED ORCHID that seeks to understand the implications of Hong Kong’s draconian yet vague new National Security Law for local internet freedom. What strategic rationales in Beijing and Hong Kong are driving restrictions on Internet freedom? Which Hong Kong organizations will be placed in charge of enforcing Internet restrictions in the future? What parts of Hong Kong’s Internet infrastructure could be vulnerable to future Internet restrictions, and what possible mechanisms might be employed to constrain Internet freedom in Hong Kong?
TRAMPLED ORCHID addresses these questions using a range of publicly available information in both Chinese and English. The report surveys both PRC-wide and HKSAR-specific views on internet freedom and the importance of controlling internet content, describes key organizations responsible for implementing crackdowns on internet freedom in Hong Kong, identifies critical infrastructure that might prove vulnerable to these crackdowns, and assesses various mechanisms for restricting internet freedom in Hong Kong.
To read the report in full, see https://cira.sosi.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/TRAMPLED-ORCHID-FINAL.pdf
