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China blocks press freedom site

Posted: 24/04/03 By: Elizabeth Croad

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Press freedom pressure group Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) has reported this week (21 April 2003) that its web site has been blocked in China.

It is suspected that the blocking follows a press release issued by the group regarding the extended imprisonment of cyber-dissident Liu Di who disappeared in 2002.

Freedom of expression in China has long been a cause for concern for Reporters Sans Frontieres, as the Chinese authorities are known for blocking sites they consider to be 'dangerous or subversive'.

In the past, international news web sites such as Reuters and the BBC have been blocked, in favour of news from the official Chinese news agency, Xinhua.

In a study conducted by Harvard University's Berkham Center last year (2002) more than 50,000 of the 204,000 sites sought by the Google and Yahoo! search engines were inaccessible at least once from inside China. Most of the sites were about Tibet, Taiwan and democracy.

Calling the move by the Chinese authorities to prevent access to their site as a 'blow to free expression', RSF has called for the ban to be lifted immediately.

Source:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=6132

See also:
http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/story539.html
http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/story617.html

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