BEFORE he was jailed, few people had heard of Wu Xiangyang. But when news of his conviction appeared in a state newspaper in late December, internet users across China took note. A small trader from the southern province of Guangxi, Mr Wu's crime was to sell cheap and commonly used software that enables people to circumvent China's draconian internet controls. His five-and-a-half-year prison sentence is the toughest-known penalty imposed for such "illegal business".
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