redblueamerica.com

As the crack down of the Chinese military  in Tibet is still going on, a more complex repression is affecting main land China for the access to certain links on the internet.

The Chinese Government apply a  sophisticated political censorship system; it is nicknamed the great firewall of China.

If you were in main land China and would try to run a search on, let's say : the great firewall of China  or " repression in Tibet ", the firewall would shut down access to applicable links or reset the connection.

This should be a concern for all of us, specially in our political bloging community. Major search companies ( such as yahoo and google) have been accused of helping the Chinese government  ,with the censorship, in order to be part of China's huge internet market.

During the Olympics, the firewall will not be activated in the Hotels and accomodations for foreigners, it will give the outside world the impression that freedom of expression  on line in China is alive and well. However, it is not the case.

To read more about it  from a great article by James Fallows in the Atlantic go to:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/chinese-firewall

Note: I am a French filmmaker/photojournalist based in the US since 1983. To view my main photos/editorial web site go to: http://www.digitalrailroad.net/Mercier