RConversation: Chinese blogs threatened

Reporters Without Borders has issued a press release today voicing alarm at "the Chinese government's announced intention to close down all China-based websites and blogs that are not officially registered." The following paragraph is cause for great concern:

A China-based blogger told Reporters Without Borders on condition of anonymity that the Shanghai police recently rendered his website inaccessible because it had not been registered. He then phoned the MII [Ministry of Information Industry] to ask what he had to do in order to register, and was told that in his case it was "not worth bothering" because "there was no chance of an independent blog getting permission to publish."

Meanwhile, the Russian Interfax news agency reports China is using a system called Night Crawler "to block access to websites that have not been registered with authorities."

We hope to have some updates with first-hand information over at Global Voices.

Andrea at T-Salon is also on top of latest developments.
Other news reports include:

The Blog Herald reports only 10% of Chinese bloggers have registered.
Australian ABC News: China in Drive to Register Websites;
The Australian: China Fights to Control the Net;

..and if you haven't read it yet, you must read Steve Cherry's The Net Effect: As China's Internet Gets a Much-Needed Makeover, Will the New Network Promote Freedom or Curtail It?

Also keep an eye on China Digital Times for updates and links.

UPDATES:
(4:58pm EST) Nart Villeneuve of CitizenLab has an excellent analysis of what “night crawler” likely can and cannot do, based on the descriptions of it.

Andrea Leung of T-Salon emails to say: “FYI. Beijing’s Public Security Bureau has just lauched a new web-registration drive on May 31 targetting Beijing-based sites and site owners. The campaign aims to prevent and clean out computer viruses on websites.” She points to this Chinese article about it on Sohu.com.

ALSO NOTE FOR PEOPLE WHO CANT ACCESS RSF FROM CHINA: The full text of their press release can be read by clicking on the link below.

FROM Reporters Without Borders:

6 June 2005

Authorities declare war on unregistered websites and blogs

Reporters Without Borders voiced alarm today at the Chinese government's announced intention to close down all China-based websites and blogs that are not officially registered. The plan is all the more worrying as the government has also revealed that it has a new system for monitoring sites in real time and spotting those that fail to comply.

"The Chinese authorities use this type of announcement above all to intimidate website operators and bloggers," the press freedom organisation said. "The authorities also hope to push the most outspoken online sites to migrate abroad where they will become inaccessible to those inside China because of the Chinese filtering systems."

Reporters Without Borders added : "Those who continue to publish under their real names on sites hosted in China will either have to avoid political subjects or just relay the Communist Party's propaganda. This decision will enable those in power to control online news and information much more effectively."

The new initiative was announced in a decree issued by the ministry for the information industry (MII) on 20 March, which said all China-based websites - commercial or otherwise - would have to register by 30 June, giving the complete identity of the persons responsible for the sites. According to the authorities, the aim is to control information that "endanger the country."

According to official figures, about 75 per cent of Chinese sites have already complied with the new procedure. The Russian news agency Interfax reported that the ministry subsequently announced that a new system called "Night Crawler" (Pa Chong, in Chinese) that allows the authorities to locate and block unregistered sites would get under away at the start of June.

At the request of the authorities, the Telecom operators that host the biggest Chinese news portals informed their users that this procedure is obligatory. In May, many bloggers received e-mail messages telling them to register to avoid their blogs being declared illegal.

A China-based blogger told Reporters Without Borders on condition of anonymity that the Shanghai police recently rendered his website inaccessible because it had not been registered. He then phoned the MII to ask what he had to do in order to register, and was told that in his case it was "not worth bothering" because "there was no chance of an independent blog getting permission to publish.