As the torch moves towards San Francisco, Cambridge activists and students are holding candlelight vigils next to the Harvard T stop in Harvard Square. It is very fortunate that in the Internet age, more people can become aware about what’s happening in Tibet, despite the media ban. Unfortunate, however, is that the Internet is still a technology that requires physical cables; thus allowing it to be censored.

I wonder how many people in China are getting access to this information. I was in Korea as a tech reporter when the Kim Sun-il execution video was released. The government blocked all websites that contained the video as well as restrictions on searching key words related to the event, citing the well-being of Koreans as its reason.  Although key word blocking has its limits, I wasn’t able to see the video (or access foreign sites that had the video).

This PDF of JoongAng Daily’s front page on June 24, 2004 has several articles on the Korean reaction to the beheading, including mine on the government’s cyber walls.