I would think Google would like the Chinese Government. Its founders are leftist scum.

Are you experiencing "link envy"? Why should you be upset that Kevin linked to a story most people don't know about? I had never heard about "freedom" being blocked this until I saw it at Washington Monthly, and according to all the comments, all his readers in China were shocked. If it is such common knowledge, why was everyone so surprised except you?

Simon, sorry that I (and the commenters on my blog) was unaware of the blocking of the F word in China. But don't you want the rest of the world -- especially those outside our own Asian blogosphere -- to know about it, too? I'd think you would want to thank Kevin for being one of the few superbloggers to write this up.

Will Kevin Drum link to me if I tell you Google won't return results for "triangle", "bitch" or "inc*st"?

I'm really curious why you wrote this. It doesn't sound like the Simon I've known and admired over the past two years.

Last comment: It appears Slate saw this as news as well. Do you see this as bad, that this issue is getting attention?

I have a good laugh with the banned words list. I haven't laughed so hard for a long time! :)

Richard:

I don't begrudge your link from Kevin Drum. My statement is a reflection of the frustration of getting recognition of these issues from so-called "top bloggers" and to demonstrate that there's a far bigger list of restricted words than just "freedom".

As you said, any publicity is good publicity. But I note you mention elsewhere the link didn't generate much extra traffic. Again it frustrates me that so many people who profess themselves concerned with freedom don't care for issues like this.

It isn't a reflection on you or your original post.

Simon, thanks a lot for clarifying. I though you were belittling me for not knowing that Freedom was a banned word. And you are quite right about the lack of interest from the big bloggers on this topic. Even the link from Slate failed to generate any traffic -- people see "China" and they skip to the next post.

it has been known for some time "freedom" is amongst the many words banned by China's net nanny

Actually, Simon, this ban hasn't been tightly enforced throughout China until recently. For one example, within the past two months, I could look up Freedom House's website for data and commentary, and most of the words on the CDT "ban" list were searchable from where I am. Not anymore. A pity.