Attempts by the Chinese government to force Chinese bloggers to register their blogs has failed, with only 430,000 Chinese bloggers registring with the country’s Information Ministry, representing around 10% of the estimatated number of blogs in China.
Failure to register blogs in China can result in sites being shut down, and potential jail time for those failing to comply.
The Australian reports that there are said to be some 40,000 “internet police” working to block access to sites the Chinese Communist party doesn’t like, and to assure that local internet users are complying with the country’s laws regarding speech. There are also said to be at least 61 people in Chinese jails for posting illegal messages or articles on the internet.
