Off to judge the BOBs, where I won't be able to surf Wang Yi's Microphone

As posted on Legal Blog Watch. - LS

This is my last post until Monday -- As I blogged recently, I'm boarding an airplane to join the other judges in The BOBs, a international competition for the world's best Weblogs, podcasts and multimedia blogs.  (You're a judge, too, by the way: This competition awards both user prizes and jury awards. Go vote!)

I'm horrified to report, however, that one very special blog I won't be able to surf with my colleagues on the jury this weekend is that of professor Wang Yi (http://zhivago.tianyablog.com). Why? As Reporters Without Borders announced on their Web site today, Yi's blog was closed down days after being nominated for the BOBs' "freedom of expression" category:

"The company that hosts the Tianya website closed the blog down on the orders of the Internet surveillance bureau in Hai Nan province (southwest of Guangzhou). When Internet users now try to access the blog, they see an error message saying it is "no longer accessible."

"A teacher at Chengdu university in the southwestern province of Sichuan and member of the international writers' association PEN, Wang initially created the site to make all his writings available in one place. He gradually turned it into a blog dealing with sensitive subjects. One of his last articles was about a campaign by peasants in Guangdong province to remove a village chief accused of corruption." (See also Julian Pain's post on Global Voices Online.)

"Terrible," writes Ann Althouse, whose Audible Althouse also is a BOBs nominee. "Reminds me of Australia." See her post, The BOB nominations -- and Chinese repression, for coverage of this story by The New York Times.

If you're writing about this story, I welcome your trackbacks below. I'll try to add to this post while surfing in the airport.

Comments

[Sour Duck]

Have a safe trip!