Governments in liberal democracies must suffer constant, agonising pangs of China-envy. The People’s Republic has no pesky voters, no truculent opposition, and its political transitions are done the good, orderly old-fashioned way — scheduled and settled years in advance. Finally, a year after the Arab world exploded in anger online, they’ve woken up to the fact that there’s an ungoverned internet out there. And they read about China’s Great Firewall, of sweatshops full of censors, and they think: “Now that’s how things should be done.” Citizens use the internet; citizens are answerable to you, their beneficent government; ergo the internet should dashed well be answerable to you.

<p><table width='100%' border=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td style='FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 18px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: #0253B7;'><B>Mihir Sharma:</B> Sense and censorship</td></tr><tr><tr><td style='FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 11px; '>The internet is the last hope for a break-out from the 

Mihir Sharma: Sense and censorship

The internet is the last hope for a break-out from the tolerance trap in which this country has unhappily found itself

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