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Home » News » Internet » China Unblocks Wikipedia
China Unblocks Wikipedia
By: Sharon Khare   |   Nov 16,2006
The Chinese version of Wikipedia, which had been censored since October 2005, was unblocked by the authorities around 13 November 2006. This decision follows the reopening a month earlier of the English version of the collaborative online encyclopedia.

Reporters Without Borders has congratulated the managers of Wikipedia, who have always refused to go in for self-censorship and called on other Internet giants present in China to follow their example. "While Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft harp on about how it is impossible to negotiate with the authorities and that if they refused to censor their search engines, they would be expelled from the country, the Wikipedia example proves the contrary," the worldwide press freedom organisation said.

"The Chinese government is pragmatic and does not want to do without foreign businesses in the Internet sector. There is therefore obviously room for negotiation for the US companies. It is not essential to bow down before Beijing and trample on freedom of expression to do business in this country," it added.

According to tests carried out by Andrew Lih, a Wikipedia specialist, and confirmed by Reporters Without Borders, the encyclopedia has been unblocked by China's main access providers. The researcher said the reopening had prompted Internet-users to post a mass of new content. He said the Chinese version of the encyclopedia is the fastest growing after the English version.

China has been in the news time and again for its intolerance towards freedom of speech and for imprisoning those who do speak out. Reporters Without Borders has denounced China along with 12 other nations for web censorship. While giants like Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Google have given in to China's authority over the Internet it is heartening to see Wikipedia take a stand.

Related News:

China Jails Internet Dissident for Three Years
Yahoo! Worst Offender in Censorship
Yahoo! Accused for Third Arrest

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