China’s netizens swarm amnesty.org
Thousands of netizens in China seized the chance to check out Amnesty International’s main website after it was unblocked in China for the first time, on 1 Aug.
The Chinese cyber-police’s unprecedented move came after international journalists discovered, upon arrival in Beijing for the Olympic Games, that numerous websites - such as those of Wikipedia and BBC Chinese - were blocked inside Olympic media venues. About 30,000 reporters from around the world are expected to cover the Games.
Within the first four days, Amnesty.org received about 14,000 visitors from China — nearly 30 times the visitor count for July. To welcome the new visitors, the organization is now installing a Chinese language section.
Unblocking the sites is a monumental move for the Chinese government especially when it appeared to be tightening its control over media in recent years by banning websites and detaining journalists.
Is this a move towards greater freedom or a cosmetic change that will last as long as the Olympics?
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