From Sydney Morning Herald:
In the game of cat and mouse between the Chinese Government’s censors and China’s increasingly outspoken bloggers, the score has suddenly turned in the bloggers’ favour.
Tens of millions of mice over-ran China’s internet trap this year, swamping it with chatter, nibbling towards freedom of speech.
Riots in Tibet, the Sichuan earthquake, an under-age Olympic hero, poisoned milk, official corruption, and even a fake tiger sighting – China’s top news stories this year took on new life in the blogosphere. The twisted reports and deliberate silence of the Communist Party’s traditional propaganda machine – state-owned newspapers and television – were held to ridicule by swift-moving mice that scrutinised, uncovered and spread little pieces of competing truth.
Isaac Mao, 36, of Shanghai, credited as China’s first blogger, began using the term Great Firewall in 2005 to describe the frustrating structure of internet blocks and filters imposed by a government determined to move its censor-ship system into the digital age, and keep the world out. He was a pioneer in using proxy server technology to access overseas websites.
