RSS in GovernmentReporters Without Borders reports today that Chinese authorities have stepped up their Internet censorship to include blogging, closing two sites hosting blogs, Blogbus.com and and Blogcn.com.
Blogbus.com was closed on 11 March "until further notice" for allowing a letter to be posted that was critical of the government. Blogcn.com was 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.
"These latest moves against bloggers," according to the report, "top off the authorities' efforts to strangle web use."
Read the full report: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=9545
Read more: China Shuts Down Two Internet 'Blog' Sites (Reuters, March 18)