http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Edgy-China-blog-site-shut-apf-14014893.html
Friday January 9, 2009, 10:24 am EST
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BEIJING (AP) -- China expanded an Internet cleanup campaign Friday, shutting down an edgy blog hosting site for apparently carrying "harmful comments" and naming more than a dozen sites containing pornography or other vulgar content.
The latest government Internet sweep began with a well-publicized crackdown on pornography, which is banned in China, but was widened to include a blog hosting site popular with activists,
http://www.bullog.cn.
The site was shut down Friday afternoon, founder Luo Yonghao told The Associated Press.
"I got an e-mail from the Beijing Communications Administration this afternoon, saying the Web site contained harmful comments on current affairs and therefore will be closed," he said, declining to elaborate.
It was not known whether the shutdown of bullog.cn was permanent. The site, home to some outspoken social and political commentary, was closed temporarily last year during a key Communist Party congress after criticism of the meeting was posted.
A duty officer for the Beijing Communications Administration reached after hours Friday said he did not have any information on the case.
The government remains wary of losing its control over the Internet, which could be used for organized opposition to the rule of the Communist Party. Internet companies also regularly self-censor to keep from running afoul of the authorities with material that might be considered subversive or too political.
China has the world's largest population of Internet users with more than 250 million.
A cache version of bullog.cn viewed Friday night did not reveal any particularly outspoken content, though the site likely had ties to a bold online petition circulated last month called "Charter 08." The document called for a new Chinese constitution guaranteeing human rights and was signed by more than 300 lawyers, writers, scholars and artists.
Late on Thursday, the China
