Please have a look. It is proof that at least some Chinese bloggers are indeed concerned about freedom of speech — so concerned, that they feel they need to subvert the government and get their blogs hosted overseas to protect themselves.
From their Introduction:
Ever since blog became popular in China, there have been a number of occasions where some blogs were shut down by telecommunications company or internet service providers due to their political speech. These incidents not only brought risks to bloggers themselves but also to blog service providers in China. Many blog service providers had to increase their effort in content filtering. All these brought pressure and helplessness to people who dare to make truthful expressions.
Especially since April 2005, when the law on non-profit website registration became effective, website owners are required to submit their real personal information when they register their websites. The annual registration process as well as hefty penalty for failure in compliance have angered many website owners that use an independent virtual server and domain names.
Therefore, many bloggers in mainland China began to consider moving their blogs outside of China. But because of language barrier, financial, payment and other issues, the cost of moving is rather high and the situation is not optimistic.
It is based on the belief of free speech that we started the Adopt a Chinese blog project. We hope that we and others on the internet who shared the same belief, can share resources and help bloggers who want to freely express themselves and find a safer space for blogging, so that they can continue to blog without retribution.
As a matter of fact, the goal of the program is to help bloggers. The support is not limited to any specific country. It is borderless and global. At least this is what we wish: let people freely express themselves, without the worries that their blog may one day be shutdown.
You can tell me all you want that the Chinese people don’t care about freedom of speech. Obviously some do, or this project wouldn’t exist. Please go read about it.
1
By eswn
let me add something that i hope will help people understand the process and the considerations.
i have a domain and a hosting service thatl will permit me to add sub-domains. but i have not adopted any chinese blogs.
why not?
on one hand, it is possible that my IP address can be blocked from China on account of something that I said. that is quite likely, and it would be unfair to the blogs that I host.
on the other hand, it is possible that my IP address can be blocked from China on account of something that my guests said. And it could be completely fair and reasonable, because who knows what they might say or post.
if my web site was totally not targeted to China, I might not care (e.g. if i run a directory on European media and i don’t care if no one in China can see taht). But I do target China. That is why I am not adopting any Chinese blogs.
June 21, 2005 @ 12:03 pm | Comment
2
By echo
whether this will change or not I don’t know. but if you read the rest of the adopt a blog page you’ll notice that there have been plenty of overseas volunteers for space, but almost no one to take them up on it…
June 22, 2005 @ 11:33 pm | Comment
3
By eswn
no takers?
this must be the other side of the equation.
can a taker be held responsible for the words and actions of other unknown takers on the same site? as a ‘gang’?
June 23, 2005 @ 8:12 am | Comment