Protesters use Web 2.0 to show the dark side to Beijing Olympics

In the run up to and during the Beijing Olympics, there has been a groundswell of online activity attempting to bypass the strict sensors, to show another side to the Olympics. A group of Chinese bloggers and human rights protestors have been using various Web 2.0 tools to get their point across and protest against human right violations.

An example is Chinese blogger Zhou "Zuola" Shuguang who had many followers of his Twitter feed riveted to his Tweets detailing his detainment by the Chinese government. This was all taking place whilst he was being detained, with his posts being updated and translated for the world to see.

The activity was not limited to Chinese protestors, there were a number of US and European human rights protestors in Beijing at the time as well. A US based protestor Eddie Romaro claimed on his MySpace page that he was hiding from the Chinese police but plans to turn himself in.

Anne Donohue, a professor of journalism at Boston University currently working at the People's University in Beijing, says that despite the heavy use of Twitter and live streaming site Qik by protestors, the total number of online protestors has so far been "tiny", far less than what was expected. She puts in an e-mail, "It has been very quiet with the occasional Tibetan banner/flag. I have a VPN that allows me to see anything I want, but I have not heard of any new, more aggressive censorship. It's just the same old 'whack-a-mole' approach they've consistently employed."

She also noted in an e-mail that Chinese authorities acted quickly when photos of a young girl deemed too unattractive to be shown singing during the opening ceremonies appeared online. The photos were immediately deleted, she says.

Whilst the Chinese authorities have been largely successful in quashing protests, these examples show the power of Web 2.0 and how difficult it is to censor.