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.

The authorities had been trying for six months to block access to the blog. “As soon as I find a way to get round their filtering system, the local police use a new technique to censor my blog,” Wang said. He added that he was “very annoyed” with the Tianya company and the Hai Nan authorities for getting his blog shut down.

Blogs get people excited. Or else they disturb and worry them. Some people distrust them. Others see them as the vanguard of a new information revolution. Because they allow and encourage ordinary people to speak up, they're tremendous tools of freedom of expression.

Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure. Only they provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing the government and sometimes courting arrest.

Reporters Without Borders has produced this handbook to help bloggers, with handy tips and technical advice on how to remain anonymous and to get round censorship, by choosing the most suitable method for each situation. It also explains how to set up and make the most of a blog, to publicise it (getting it picked up efficiently by search-engines) and to establish its credibility through observing basic ethical and journalistic principles.

The text of the verdict in the case of journalist Shi Tao – sentenced in April to 10 years in prison for “divulging state secrets abroad” – shows that Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. provided China’s state security authorities with details that helped to identify and convict him. It reveals that the company provided the Chinese investigating organs with detailed information that apparently enabled them to link Shi’s personal e-mail account (on the Chinese Yahoo! service at yahoo.com.cn) and the specific message containing information treated as a “state secret” to the IP address of his computer. More details from RSF here.

Shi Tao was jailed because he e-mailed sensitive political information to be posted on dissident websites hosted outside China. His case is a cautionary tale to bloggers around the world: If you are publicizing information and views that your government doesn't want exposed - even if you believe you have the right to do so under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - companies like Yahoo! will not shield you from your government.

Click here for the full text in both Chinese and English of the Shi Tao verdict (PDF document) courtesy of the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based non-governmental organization.

China: Two cyber-dissidents put under surveillance during UN human rights visit
The Chinese authorities put Liu Di, a young Internet user who was imprisoned for a year in 2002-2003, and Liu Xiaobo, a leading figure in the Chinese pro-democracy movement, under surveillance on 29 August while receiving a visit from Louise Arbour, the UN high commissioner for human rights.

Vietnam : Government urged to pardon three cyber-dissidents
Reporters Without Borders called on justice minister Uong Chu Luu and on president Tran Duc Luong to include Pham Hong Son, Nguyen Khac Toan and Nguyen Vu Binh in the list of prisoners who will be pardoned on the 60th anniversary of Vietnam's independence on 2 September. More details.

Deutsche Welle blogs contest
Bloggers invited to compete in freedom of expression category sponsored by Reporters sans frontières
Deutsche Welle launched its second Best Of The Blogs – or BOBS – competition on 1 September. Reporters Without Borders is sponsoring a special category for blogs that defend freedom of expression. Internet users are invited to use an online form to propose their favourite blog (in any of nine languages).
The BOBS site
Propose a blog
Attention: To propose a blog that defends freedom of expression, click on “Special Reporters Without Borders Award” in the Nomination Category menu.