20 Years After Tiananmen, China Stifles Online Dissent

May 31, 2009 · Print This Article

alphadogg writes with that snippet from Network World: “The World Wide Web has brought new hope to reformists in China since the country crushed pro-democracy protests in the capital 20 years ago. But as dissidents have gone high-tech, the government in turn has worked to restrict free speech on the Web, stifling threats to its rule that could grow online. China has stepped up monitoring of dissidents and Web censorship ahead of June 4, when

hundreds were killed in 1989 after Beijing sent soldiers to its central Tiananmen Square to disperse protestors. The authoritarian government wants to ensure that term and other sensitive anniversaries that year pass without public disturbances, observers say. In recent months, China has blocked YouTube and closed two blog hosting sites, bullog.cn and fatianxia.com, known for their liberal composition.”