Sunday, June 12, 2005

BBC News: China Seeks to Eliminate Dissident Blogs

Can they control information like this? I see it as impossible, but I am more concerned about the implications of any success on their part as other, more democratic societies, might find reasons to subject blogs to control for various reasons...

Could blogging become a new symbol of resistance?
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(Courtesy of Melissa Purdue)

"China wants more control over blogs: The Chinese government has announced plans to police web forums, chat rooms and blogs alongside other websites."
BBC News

...

"The authorities hope to push the most outspoken online sites to migrate abroad where they will become inaccessible to those inside China because of the Chinese filtering systems," it added.

Known as the Great Firewall, the filtering system used by the Chinese government is not entirely unbreachable; for every new restriction and technical door that it slams shut, the Chinese people find a hack, a workaround or an entirely new way of communicating.

According to official figures, about 75% of sites have already complied with the new procedure.

In May, many bloggers received e-mails telling them to register or face having their blogs declared illegal.

But one anonymous China-based blogger told Reporters Without Borders that when he phoned the MII to register he was told not to bother because "there was no chance of an independent blog getting permission to publish".

Entire Article

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