Chinese Stranglehold

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the censorship of pro-democracy writer Wang Yi’s blog ( http://zhivago.tianyablog.com), which was closed down just days after it was nominated for the "freedom of expression" category in a blog contest ( www.thebobs.de) being organised by the German radio station Deutsche Welle. "We call for the immediate reopening of this blog and we point out that the...

HONG KONG–The Chinese authorities have blocked access to a personal Web log, or blog, written by a prominent critic of the communist regime after it was nominated for a key award. Wang Yi’s Microphone, was nominated for two categories in the Best of Blog (BOB) Awards sponsored by German radio station Deutsche Welle. "Initially I set up my blog as a place to collect together all my writings so they...

One of the standard arguments for the superiority of "free enterprise" is that in the wake of economic freedom -- defined as the freedom of capital to enrich itself -- political and other freedoms follow in its wake. There are a few problems with this argument: first, it is often framed in the broad sweep of history, looking ahead at decades or even centuries. Most people don’t have centuries or...

IT'S bad enough when newspaper editorials, Western human rights groups and ordinary American customers condemn your company for bowing to the Chinese dictatorship and contributing to oppression. But when the outrage begins rising, at great personal risk, from dissident voices trapped inside that dictatorship, well, that has to hurt. Or not. Yahoo has suffered a good deal of opprobrium after it was...

Reporters Without Borders today called on the Chinese authorities to stop blocking accessing to the website of the independent online encyclopedia Wikipedia, whose popularity has been growing steadily in China. The site has been unavailable in several provinces including Shanghai since 18 October. This latest online censorship paradoxically comes at a moment when China is openly raising the issue...

Since the spread of the internet in the mid-nineties, privacy concerns have increased exponentially. Cyberspace has often been equated to Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, or to a new, digital version of George Orwell’s Big Brother, capable of seeing and controlling everything and everyone. This rather dystopic vision has rightly generated fear and distrust of the web. Recently, the thickening bonds...

Yahoo's chairman and chief executive officer Terry Semel strongly defended the company's decision to turn over evidence to Chinese authorities that helped the government convict a local journalist and send him to jail for 10 years. Companies that do business internationally have to respect and abide by the laws of the countries in which they operate, whether that be China or any other country, he...

AS BLOGS become big business, Internet giants have begun trying to profit from new forms of journalism, including war coverage. The results are not encouraging. Yahoo's latest experiment reveals that it considers war news just another form of entertainment. This from an online giant that has already shown it is cavalier about press freedom and a friend of oppression. Look back to 2004, when...

Mr. Yang, My name is Liu Xiaobo. I was born in Changchun, China, in 1955, and am now a freelance writer in Beijing. I can't address you as the "respectful Mr. Yang", because I write this letter for the sake of my friend Shi Tao, who is now in a Chinese prison. In preparation for writing this letter, I read your resume for the first time and learned that you co-created the Yahoo! Internet...

On the eve of the 56th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has released a report of an investigation into the role of the news agency Xinhua News Agency in the system of propaganda and censorship put in place by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). With less than three years to go before the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the worldwide press freedom...