Blogetery.com, a little-known WordPress platform used by more than 70,000 blogs, was shut down by its Web hosting company mroe than a week ago and nobody seems willing to say why or who is responsible.

If this was a copyright issue, BurstNet would likely have to deal with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's safe harbor.

In an interview on Sunday evening, a BurstNet spokesman declined to identify the law enforcement agency that ordered Blogetery shut down or provide the reason, but did say that it had nothing to do with copyright violations.

Internet service providers will face legal action and have their licences withdrawn if they refuse to cooperate with the government to block websites deemed to be defamatory to the monarchy, the ICT minister warns.

Justice Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga said the ministry will seek the cooperation of internet service providers in the next three months to block websites that contain articles that are defamatory to the monarchy.

Namely, they aren't sure whether this will be a permanent block or temporary. But it appears to be linked to the 21st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, the 1989 incident in which the Chinese military attacked and arrested thousands of pro-democracy protesters.

Last year, around the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, China cracked down on sites like Flickr, Twitter, Blogger, and WordPress in an attempt to keep word from spreading about it.

The blocking of YouTube comes a day after a Pakistani court blocked Facebook amid a growing row over a competition on the social networking website to design cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

"There are so many insults to the Prophet on the internet and that's why we felt we had to bring this case," he said.

An iPad advertisement ticked me off; I sent the Apple CEO an angry email; he told me about "freedom from porn."

Jobs not only built and then rebuilt his company around some very strong opinions about digital life, but he's willing to defend them in public. Vigorously. Bluntly. At two in the morning on a weekend.

The American Civil Liberties Union is applauding Google's latest information service: a database and map of nations that have either asked the company to delete content from one of its features or forward them details about Google users.

Google has provided a useful general overview of the requests, which the company received from government law enforcement agencies from July 1 through December 31 of last year.

Chinese officials censor their censorship demands, classifying them as state secrets, "so we cannot disclose that information at this time," Google explains.

The government increasingly combines censorship and surveillance measures with pro-active efforts to steer online conversations in the direction it prefers.

Known derisively as the "fifty cent party," these people are paid to write postings that show their employers in a favorable light in online chat rooms, social networking services, blogs, and comments sections of news websites.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Saturday called for Internet regulations and demanded that authorities crack down on a news Web site he accused of spreading false information, according to media reports.

"We have to act. We are going to ask the attorney general for help, because this is a crime. I have information that this page periodically publishes stories calling for a coup d'etat. That cannot be permitted," Chavez reportedly said.

China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology has warned Google that if it stops censoring search results in the country, it will "have to bear the consequences."

"If you insist on taking this action that violates Chinese laws, I repeat: you are unfriendly and irresponsible, and you yourself will have to bear the consequences."

Earlier this week, Google CEO said that "something will happen soon" with the company's government talks, though he reiterated that there was "no timetable" for the discussions.

In a continuation of Apple's controversial method of managing its App Store for the iPhone, the company decided to remove a variety of applications designed to find WiFi hotspots the device can connect to.

The reports come on the heels of Apple's decision to remove a slew of applications featuring potentially offensive or suggestive adult content.