Electronic messages travel quickly and widely and often reach some unsuspected recipients. This message from Lin Hai’s wife, Xuhon, was sent via Microsoft’s Hotmail email service in response to the alert sent out by AAAS.

While Internet content is not yet closely monitored in China, state police periodically browse through private email accounts. In response, an ever growing number of Chinese Internet users maintain Web-based email accounts (like Hotmail) that can not be accessed by Chinese security organizations, as they reside on servers outside China itself.