http://projab.jot.com/WikiHome
From the above site:
“Ever since blog became popular in China, there have been a number of occasions where some blogs were shut down by telecommunications company or internet service providers due to their political speech. These incidents not only brought risks to bloggers themselves but also to blog service providers in China. Many blog service providers had to increase their effort in content filtering. All these brought pressure and helplessness to people who dare to make truthful expressions.
Especially since April 2005, when the law on non-profit website registration became effective, website owners are required to submit their real personal information when they register their websites. The annual registration process as well as hefty penalty for failure in compliance have angered many website owners that use an independent virtual server and domain names.
Therefore, many bloggers in mainland China began to consider moving their blogs outside of China. But because of language barrier, financial, payment and other issues, the cost of moving is rather high and the situation is not optimistic.
It is based on the belief of free speech that we started the Adopt a Chinese blog project. We hope that we and others on the internet who shared the same belief, can share resources and help bloggers who want to freely express themselves and find a safer space for blogging, so that they can continue to blog without retribution.
As a matter of fact, the goal of the program is to help bloggers. The support is not limited to any specific country. It is borderless and global. At least this is what we wish: let people freely express themselves, without the worries that their blog may one day be shutdown.”
This is an interesting concept. I think I actually read about this or a similar one before.. maybe for China, but maybe for somewhere else.
How is the program going? I think I would have a small concern about hosting something where I had no idea at all what they were saying. Have you had questions about that, or anything, yet?
I’m not a part of the group either hosting or advocating hosting Chinese blogs – principlly because I don’t have server space.
But it sounded to me like an interesting idea, and one that should be put forward to the BooTrib community.
I particularly like the “cell structure” approach that makes it impossible to shut down a site because it (and its componants) have multiple hosts.
IMHO, decentralization of resources and information is a great counterweight to our increasingly centralized power structures.
Oh, thats actually true. The “cell culture’ and decentralization and so on.
And might come in handy for more than the Chinese in the future, if things keep going the way they are now ;).
Thanks for bringing it to our attention. I’ll look into it more at their site.
My thoughts exactly.
One of the problems of living in the “first world” is that the incremental approach to curtailing our rights usually leaves us insuffiently motivated to making radical changes, or at the very least always playing catch-up with the latest infringements.
Instead, if we were down in the trenches with the people on the front line, not only would we be motivated to change our own behaviors, we’d be learning valuable counter tactics ahead of supressions at home.
Win/win, I’d say.
I have a young Serbian friend who was in one of the anti Milosovec(sp) youth groups that fought… anyway, he’s been watching and reading news from over here and is just appalled… He sees the same things happening here, and the same laws being made, etc, and just can’t believe it is going on with little or no protest, and with even active support by some.
Others who have live or have lived in countries like that have said the same.
Here… we think it can’t happen, won’t happen, and that you are a tin foil hat wearer or something if you speculate that it either will happen, or already is.
Am not sure what the outcome will be.
in the so-called first world, is that without getting one’s hands dirty, its hard to be more than a theorist.
My favorite saying is: Good judgement comes from experience, which usually comes from bad judgement.
Which is to say that knowing, really knowing what to do comes from having done it before – often, and usually more often badly than correctly. The “geez, I’ll never do that again” (frequently accompanied by the smell of smoke and an elevated heart-rate), is an important part of getting “it” right the next time.
Instead, because we only have to debate the potential outcomes of our various theories and idologies, we are not able to act quickly and decisively, in those instances when speed and confidence are necessary.
As an IT professional, I see disproportionate amounts of spam, viruses, and hacking attempts coming from asia every day. I don’t mean to disparage or otherwise diminish the adopt-a-blog movement, but just be extra careful if you are going to host an adopted blog on your own server. If you purchase from a commercial hosting service, they should have the necessary protections already in place.
Yep, every good intention will be hijacked by the unscrupulous amongst us. Diligence – first, last and always