(cross-posted from Global Voices)
Photos: 2005.3.18 Fete-Day for SMTH BBS on Community.webshots.com
Xiao Qiang reports at China Digital Times that Chinese students have been protesting vigorously online - and more cautiously offline - after Chinese authorities began restricting access to some of China's most influential online bulletin boards . Xiao reports:
From March 16, some of the most influential University BBS (Bulletin Board System) in China, including the one of Tsinghua University (smth.org), Peking University (ytht.org) and Nanjing University (lilybbs.org), have been restricted to users with an IP inside the university only. That means public users, who make remarkable contribution to the conversation, are not able to access these BBS any more. Before, these BBS hosted very active public forums and attracted millions of registered visitors inside and outside the university. Protests have been organized around Chinese universities. People are calling it an insult on the freedom of speech, but soon their posts were deleted and their voice stifled by university administration.
Read his full report for all the details. Interestingly, there is already a technorati tag.
For those of you who can't read Chinese blogs, Danwei is all over the story. Fons Tuinstra is also on the case.
Seems like the press is so busy covering Condi Rice they haven't bothered with this story yet.
I said in a comment on my weblog that the only way to keep a country closed it by closing down all the internet. I will never make jokes about that anymore. Today almost nothing at the internet in China seems to be working: the alert of the internet filters is so high, it has virtually brought down all the traffic, at least from the places I'm working.
Posted by: Fons | March 21, 2005 at 12:05 AM