Web 2.0 & Cop 2.0
Chinese Blogger Conference 2008 was held on Nov. 15-16 in Guangzhou. Cnbloggercon (@cnbloggercon) marks the latest trend and development of Web 2.0 in China, in the sense that blogging/bloggers is a symbol of Web 2.0 and the way it is held (non-centralized self-organization) is also a real-world parallel of Web 2.0 way of socializing.
And this year, there is something new: the Public Security Bureaus and National Security Bureaus of this most populous country are trying to transform from totalitarian top-down control to a more Web 2.0 way.
Cnbloggercon is almost the largest grassroots gathering in the country. And blogging does help transforming this country to be freer and less under central control. This is why the authority had always sought to restrain Cnbloggercon (as I recall, the organization faced certain restrictions in 2006 in Hangzhou).
This year the police have certainly paid more attention on this rather liberal event. The police called one of the organizers (Shizhao was also present) to “have a tea” (it seems they really had a tea, and quite peacefully) on 15th. It turned out that the day before Cnbloggercon 2008 began, the Internet Surveillance Sector of Guangzhou Police notified district station on this event. This may be because some “sensitive” people were present on the conference (Lian Yue, Zola), which made National Security people uneasy. The organizers denied any possibility that this event might have anything to do with any political or reactionary (gosh, what a word) purpose. And were finally let go after a detailed report.
Attorney Liu Xiaoyuan (recently blogged a lot on Yang Jia’s trial and death penalty review. His blog will most possibly be awarded the best Chinese blog in the BOBs contest) also noted on his blog that an “uninvited guest” came in police car claiming such a event shall be reported to police station in advance. To avoid hassle, the organizers cooperated with the cop. And on 16th, another “uninvited guest” came to the conference quietly and weirdly – he didn’t want to exchange business cards and avoided casual talks & camera.
On 16th, when Yang Hengjun was giving a speech on the importance of Internet and blog for the society, there was an “uninvited” cop 2.0 listening, and clapping. (participating in like a grassroot?)
PS: view photos on Flickr/tag:cnbloggercon
