Months after Twitter was blocked and Chinese Twitter clones Fanfou, Digu, and Zuosa (apparently Zuosa is still alive) were felled by the mighty hand of the CCP censorship army, Internet portal Sina has started its own "microblogging service." more ›

Official media said yesterday that a recently released survey found that only 5% of youth were actually against the Green Dam, according to the SCMP. But take a look at the survey: 1,000 pupils around China, aged six to 13, were asked whether Green Dam Youth Escort was a good thing. Pollsters had to then explain to the kids what the internet, filtering software and pornography (aaawwwkwaaard) were. Of the respondants, only 14% actually offered a vote of support, most had no opinion since they're kids and this has nothing to do with anything kids care about. Of all the silly methods to try to win support for the wildly unpopular Green Dam initiative, this has to be the silliest. more ›

Chris Mathews responded to Obrad Grujic and Frank Kim accusations that he was "an evil and greedy person" who had stolen the site from him by posting a press release onto the Freedur website. He's only been able to get hold of some DNSes - meaning that for us in China - if you load Freedur.com using a VPN, you get his side of the story, but if you turn off the VPN, you get Obrad Grujic and Frank Kim's rebuttal. Weird. Shows us how little we know about the workings of the internet, we guess. more ›

UPDATE (03/2010): Since the publishing of this post, several things have happened, so if you came across this article from somewhere else, check out all our freedur coverage to find the most recent info. more ›

• China's Alibaba Adds Social Networking to E-commerce [PC World] "China's Alibaba Group has started mixing social-networking functions into its leading e-commerce platforms, a move it hopes will convince users to spend more time and money on Alibaba Web sites. Alibaba is crafting social-networking platforms specifically to complement two of its core operations. The beta version of a Web site with Facebook-style applications and a Twitter-style feed is being grafted onto Taobao.com."
• China, the world's factory--a photo tour [CNET Asia Blogs: The Tech Dynasty] "These images are from WethicA, a company that audits factories with an eye toward child labor, workers rights, health & safety, and wages. From the WethicA newsletter: "We are posting real untouched photos of factory working conditions from about one year ago. We have decided this summer to show you an important part of the job we do during audits by telling you why these pictures have been taken. Actually, an audit is much more investigative than ticking boxes off a questionaire. One has to walk in with an open mind ready to question everything in these situations and not only ask a list of predefined questions.""
• China's turning children against me: Kadeer [ABC News] "The children of exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer have gone on Chinese television criticising their mother. Two of Ms Kadeer's children and her brother were at first reported as having written letters blaming their mother for orchestrating recent violence in far western China. Now the two children, along with another son, have recorded interviews with Chinese television for a special program."