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The Chinese authorities have stepped up Internet censorship to include blogging, closing
two sites hosting blogs - personal pages where Internet-users post their own comments on
the news.
Reporters Without Borders expressed its anger at this escalation of Internet censorship
that coincides with the opening of the 60th session of the United Nations Human Rights
Commission, at which China has a seat but without respecting its international commitments.
The site Blogbus.com was closed on 11 March "until further notice" for allowing a letter
to be posted that was critical of the government. It was the turn of Blogcn.com to be shut
down on 14 March.
"After closing websites and discussion forums, the Chinese authorities are now targeting
blogs, one of the last outlets for expression still open to Internet-users," said the
international press freedom organisation.
Blogbus.com and Blogcn.com allow Chinese Internet-users the chance to keep up a personal
page without any technical knowledge. The sites are very popular, Blogbus.com alone hosting
more than 15,000 blogs that have now been made inaccessible.
In its determination to track down Internet dissidents, the government began by banning
cybercafés, apart from those run by major groups approved by the government. After that
they set their sights on discussion forums, closing sites such as Observatory and Media
on Sina.com. Co-ordinators then set about blocking more messages and there was an upsurge
in warnings.
From there it was the blocking of major international sites Deutsche Welle and the Wall
Street Journal. These latest moves against bloggers top off the authorities' efforts to
strangle web use.
Blogs have mushroomed in the last five years, particularly in countries that crack down
on free expression like China and Iran. They are a tool used more and more frequently by
journalists and that also allow non professionals to express themselves on the web.
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www.internet.rsf.org