Latest Chinese clampdown on the net

More evidence of China's crackdown on individuals using the internet.

This morning's FT reports that

From Monday, people registering a domain name in China would have to present a company seal and a business licence, the China Internet Network Information Center, a government-backed body, said in a statement.

According to the paper

Officials said the measure was part of a campaign to rein in pornographic content, but bloggers and internet activists interpreted it as a broader attempt to enforce internet censorship more heavily. "If they really enforce this, we will have to register our sites outside China," said one blogger.

Internet access-a human right?

Is there a fundemental right to being online?

The Times asked a number of people that question and here are some of the replies

Being cut off from your broadband isn’t the same as being whisked to Guantánamo; I see it more as a consumer right and a citizen’s right. Nobody says you have to shop online at Tesco, but it is convenient.

says David Rowan,Editor, Wired magazine

easy access to technology and information is a growing human right

.says Sam Barratt who is Head of Media for Oxfam .

and this from Padraig Reidy,Index on Censorship

As the internet becomes a prime conduit for information, it would seem that yes, access is a right. Increasingly it is merely another public space in which we interact and learn; a public space in which we are still learning how to conduct ourselves. The idea of barring people from that public space is detrimental to liberty and equality.