Blogging - An amazed Dan Gillmor hopes for more

Dan Gillmor reports in the Mercury News about his visit to Shanghai. "China is a welter of contradictions. There are free local Internet dial-up phone numbers in big cities, where anyone can get onto the Net anonymously. But the Great Firewall Internet filtering system -- built by the government but assisted by U.S. tech companies (including San Jose's own Cisco) that only see dollar signs -- blocks so much useful and thought-provoking information from the people."
That much is not blocked, even the Mercury News that was blocked in the past, and circumventing them is dead easy.
"I hope China's regime will loosen up in more than economic ways. It really has to. In the end, freedom to say what you want is a prerequisite for genuine economic freedom.
Blogs are part of an emergent global conversation. They are individualistic, human voices. They will emerge as a vital set of Chinese voices, too -- if they're given the chance.
I will be watching his weblog for comments of his trol.