Blogging Toward Democracy
This is an old article but it gives a comparison of Internet censorship in Asian states. It argues that authoritarian states like China, Iran and Egypt are having trouble dealing with the growing number of critical online diaries. These blogs expose news about incidents, and often challenge the official interpretation of events, that many regimes would prefer to keep hushed up. In many countries, blogs are giving people their first real taste of democracy. Governments take measures. Chinese government, with its roughly 111 million regular Internet users and estimated 4 million bloggers, employs a staff of about 30,000 Internet nannies to search for subversive content on China's Web sites (2006). It has at least five supervisory bodies over Internet including Internet Propaganda Management Department. (RWB, http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/Voyage_au_coeur_de_la_censure_GB.pdf ). It also draws a comparison and possible implications for Post Soviet space, which although not largely penetrated with Internet users, began to face the same issue. ‘It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between bloggers and bluffers, between political activists and provocateurs, especially in the Central Asian police states.’ ‘In Uzbekistan, for example, only the foreign employees of companies and aid organizations are able to blog without fear of consequences, whereas the locals can expect repression for voicing their opinions on the Internet.’ ‘Blogs originating in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat not only demonstrate a willingness to rebel, but also highlight the new medium's potential.’ Source: Spiegel Online, Blogging Toward Democracy. From China to Iran, Web Diarists Are Challenging Censors, 11/29/2006. Link to article: http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,450228-2,00.html


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