Beijing cranks up web censorship in run up to Tiananmen anniversary

China blocks Web sites as anniversary looms

China's government ratcheted up its censorship of the Internet on Tuesday by blocking Twitter, Yahoo's Flickr and Microsoft Hotmail, two days before the 20th anniversary of the military's attack on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square.

The crackdown appears to be part of a broader effort by Beijing authorities to quell dissent during a particularly sensitive time by censoring sites that could be used to share information considered to be subversive.

It also marks the first time that Twitter, the micro-blogging service, has been restricted on a large scale in China. The service is increasingly used by dissidents worldwide to post from the scene of protests, for instance.

Several of the U.S. Internet companies affected had unusually aggressive responses, signaling a change in strategy in how they deal with the Chinese government. In past incidents, they generally took a more diplomatic path, or remained silent in hopes of more easily working out a resolution behind the scenes.
Responses more outspoken

Yahoo said in a statement about its Flickr photo sharing service becoming inaccessible to users in China: "We understand the Chinese government is blocking access to Flickr and other international sites, though the government has not issued any explanation. We believe a broad restriction without a legal basis is inconsistent with the right to freedom of expression."

Kevin Kutz, a Microsoft spokesman, said his company "is committed to helping advance the free flow of information, and is committed to encouraging transparency, due process and rule of law when it comes to Internet governance."

He added that "we are reaching out to the government to understand this decision and find a way to move forward."

In addition to the Hotmail e-mail service, Microsoft's new search engine, Bing, was blocked.
No explanation

Chinese authorities offered no explanation for the blocking. In general, they say they take necessary steps to ensure that Web sites comply with local law, which requires companies and individuals who post information to largely avoid sensitive topics including Tiananmen Square, Taiwan and Tibet.

U.S. and European Web sites are routinely blocked and then sometimes restored to good standing with little public discussion of why. Censorship is often more pervasive around important anniversaries and political events.
Some obstructed earlier

YouTube, the video site owned by Google, has been blocked since March without explanation, according to YouTube. The company also said that its Blogger blogging service has been unavailable in China since mid-May.

Over the years, human rights groups and members of the U.S. Congress have intensely criticized U.S. Internet companies for agreeing to restrictions in China, including censoring search results as Google does. Yahoo, in particular, has been attacked for turning over personal user information to Chinese police that was used to identify dissidents and imprison them.

Last year, Yahoo, Microsoft and Google helped to create the Global Network Initiative, an organization of companies and human rights groups, to counter the unflattering publicity. The group set voluntary guidelines for operating in countries where freedom of speech is limited, including the recommendation that companies take a more aggressive stance by demanding that authorities show a legal justification for censorship.

Twitter, which is not part of the Global Network Initiative, didn't respond to inquiries from The Chronicle. Some of its users in China reported that they could work around the censorship by posting messages through third-party services that feed into Twitter like TweetDeck.

Reporters Without Borders, an advocacy group for free expression, responded to the crackdown on more sites in China by saying, "The Chinese government stops at nothing to silence what happened 20 years ago in Tiananmen Square." The group added that "authorities have opted for censorship at any price rather than accept a debate about this event."