«The story of several outspoken Chinese blogs shut down by the authorities this Wednesday has been reported by several news sites. The two blogs, "Massage Milk" by Beijing-based Wang Xiaofeng and "Milk Pig" by Yuan Lei from Guangzhou, reportedly could not be accessed from Wednesday morning. Both blogs displayed the message "Due to unavoidable reasons with which everyone is familiar, this blog is temporarily closed". This gave rise to legitimate concerns about the future of these blogs and their authors, particularly given recent publicity about the Chinese government's tight control over the Internet. If Google and Yahoo are self-censoring their Chinese operations, what might be happening to Chinese bloggers who dare to state their opinions openly?
"Massage Milk" has been at the forefront of Chinese blog culture, and it is estimated that there are now as many as 30 million bloggers in the country. The whole industry is booming, as the Chinese have come to talk more about themselves as individuals and express their opinions publicly. Wang Xiaofeng's blog had more than 10 million hits; readers were attracted by his irony and critical attitude towards the Chinese authorities. The Chinese parliament is currently sitting in a 10-day session, and the closures were initially attributed to a crackdown on dissident bloggers. However, both blogs have now reappeared, and there are conflicting reports as to really happened. A new entry in Wang's blog reportedly
says: "I like telling jokes, but this really wasn't a joke and it wasn't meant to deceive everyone." At the same time, a post on the Danwei news blog claims that Wang told them in an interview that the disappearance was an "early April fool's joke".
What is clear, though, is that China is taking Internet censorship seriously. There are tight controls on the opening of new websites, while access to some foreign sites from China is blocked. The government also has established a strong cyberpolice unit that monitors activity in the Chinese segment of the Internet. Several political blogs and websites have already been shut down, some with the help of Western companies like Microsoft and Yahoo.» source : news@kaspersky.com
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