China outlaws Skype. VOIP phone and messaging systems have been outlawed in China with the exception of the state-owned China Unicom and China Telecom.
This is a pattern in China, where the two birds of repression and protectionism nest in the same bush. The combination of eliminating competition and controlling discourse made this act inevitable.
South Korea to censor Twitter and Facebook. South Korea has reportedly issued a warning that South Koreans who post Facebook and Twitter messages and retweet messages that praise communist North Korea will face legal prosecution.
Leaked cables show deeper fear of bloggers than “activists” in Cuba. A number of U.S. diplomatic cables show how little the government of Cuba fear old-style dissidents and how concerned they are over bloggers, “a group that frustrates and scares the GOC like no other.”
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It almost seems like the tinhorns took a week off over the holidays and rested up their electrode-affixin’ hands. Almost.
Thanks to Carl Levinson for the pointer to the Telegraph article.