That title would be funny if it weren't so true.
Lynn Sislo points to this story about blogging in China. They share, with their brother bloggers in Iran, some, er, difficulties.
By January 2003, China had about 2000 bloggers when, without warning, the Chinese government blocked all access to blogspot.com, the server that hosts all blogs registered on blogger.com.The net police do not make the reasons for such actions public, but Chinese bloggers point out that DynaWeb, an anti-censorship service run by overseas Chinese, had been using a blog on blogspot.com to publish proxy server addresses that allowed users to get around the Great Firewall. The authorities’ blanket blockade affected all China’s bloggers, leaving them suddenly unable to reach their journals.
Heh. Do yourself a favor and read the article in order to see what ingenious means were employed to circumvent that blockade.
But consider the language, the terms employed: "banned." "Blockade." "Net police." "Arrests." "Shut down." Think about it: who do the Chinese authorities think they are?
The Brits?
The FCC?
Meanwhile blogging seems set to grow as a national hobby for the younger generation. Providers of China’s 300 million mobile phones are beginning to provide “moblogging” services, with which users can send text and photos directly from their phones to their blogs. For now, most blogs are personal, but their potential for building networks of people and disseminating news cannot be underestimated.
Hmm...I hope so. I just don't know...
I mean, it's great if it happens, but how can Western well-wishers support them? Blogging's not a money-making activity in the US, so it sure as hell won't be one in China, so that doesn't seem to be an option. Prayers? Please. And supporting them by going to their blogs seems almost counterproductive, since high traffic would probably get them noticed and possibly arrested.
Still, it's pretty obvious that China (and Iran) needs more blogs. And probably more iPods.
Something like a First Amendment might help, although I doubt it. It hasn't been 100% effective here, after all.