Its Chinese media whitewash time - again!

"The greatest man, the great leader, a man who dare to speak truth.
very suprise that china authority dare not even declare his death in a brighter way........."

So reads one of only a handful of footnotes to be found online in the wake of Zhao Ziyang's death - accused of supporting the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrators and who, after being dismissed for doing so, lived the rest of his life under house arrest and banned from talking to the media.

RSF.org reports that up to 100 people have been beaten or arrested for commiting such shocking hate crimes as wearing a white flower in tribute to his memory - good to see the Chinese government is still capable of cracking the skulls of its own citizens, if no-one else. Sina, Sohu and NetEase (China's biggest portal providers) were ordered to delete all mention of Zhao as soon as he died, and ISP's hosting weblogs found themselves in a similar "do this or join Zhao Ziyang" situation. In addition, Yahoo continues to follow the trend of Google and have also whitewashed any reference to the recently deceased detainee.

It seems that Golden Shield may not be needed anymore as US-based companies are continuing to do all the censoring for China now anyway - although I'm sure Nortel won't be too happy that other US firms have spotted the potential for profit at the cost of free speech. At this rate, you won't be able to get any results back on a Chinese Google search if they continue to block valid search results that other countries can pull up with no problems.

Yahoo, for example, has signed an Internet agreement with the Chinese government, and according to the agreement, Yahoo is obligated to provide user's personal information to those in power - should the need arise (and it invariably does). Now, Western countries have a similar arrangement, but the difference is, ISP companies will not give personal information without the correct paperwork signed, sealed and delivered. In China, any and all information is up for grabs at a moment's notice - and that includes anything held by Yahoo. And let's not forget this information is used to pump jailhouses full of "despicable" free thinking internet users on a daily basis. Its not like over here, where little Jimmy gets busted for looking at some red hot action and gets a slap on the wrists from his parents.

Over there, you're more likely to get a slap in the face with a very hard stick.

If you're one of the lucky ones, that is.