Leaders of the largest Communist nation in the world announced over the weekend they intend to standardize "the management of news and information" of the country. The new rules are clearly directed at bloggers and online news sites that have started to "endanger state security" and the "social order".
The government controlled newspaper China Daily explained that "Sites by news organizations that only carry their own stories should register at the (State Council"s) main office or provincial information offices. The regulation also spells out that media attached to the central government or directly under provincial governments are not allowed to provide any stories to other online news sites without approval."
One wonders how this could ever be enforced in a country of 100 million Internet users. Restricting access to unfiltered information and an unbiased press just makes people question why the government is scared of it in the first place. Unfortunately it seems that the "Great Firewall" will remain standing for some years to come.