TIM WU IN SLATE:

The end of June marked the deadline for independent Chinese bloggers to register with the government. That requirement is another sign, along with Microsoft’s recent admission that its Chinese blog site would block titles like “freedom” and “democracy,” of the country’s efforts to control the Internet. . . .

China’s long-term vision is clear: an Internet that feels free and acts as an engine of economic progress yet in no way threatens the Communist Party’s monopoly on power. With every passing day the Chinese Internet reflects that vision more closely. It portends a future for the Web that we’re only beginning to understand—one in which powerful countries refashion the global network to suit themselves.

The ramifications go well beyond China, and the complicity of American companies like Microsoft and Cisco is disgraceful.