Freedom of Speech

According to Citizen Marketers and a research paper by Matthew Hurst, the most active bloggers are in China. Although America takes second, we were behind them by "a factor or four." And following the U.S. is Taiwan, Japan, and Brazil. Part of me was not surprised that China was number one. It is the most populated country. Since there is a larger population to participate in blogging, it would make sense they would have more active bloggers than the U.S. But what surprised me is the realization that China, and other countries, are becoming as technologically advanced, and some even more, than America. This book even predicts that China may become the blogging capital of the world. That seems crazy, but again, so true. And even though China is most active, their freedom of speech is still in jeopardy when it comes to blogs. Citizen Marketers touched on this issue in the book which peaked my interest. Then I found this article at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/06/technology/06blog.html that clearly states how China's government is monitoring and deleting posts by bloggers. The government even takes it so far as to delete blogs completely if they are seen as "anti-government." And the most disturbing part is that MSN Spaces, where one blog was completely deleted, is maintained on computers in the US. When asked why they deleted the entire blog, they defended it by saying they had to upon request from the Chinese. And the blogger they deleted was well-respected even represented China in Germany for a blog competition. After reading this article, it's apparent that the Internet might not completely support freedom of speech.