Totalitarian information control

The Chinese government is extending its system of totaliatarian information control to the blogosphere. All Chinese bloggers will have to register by the end of the month and provide full identification details - allowing them to more easily be found and punished if they say anything the government doesn't like (such as, for example, demanding their human rights). It's a gross infringement of freedom of speech, of course - but its also a sign of fear, not of blogs, but of the ideas they can spread. If its not enough to stop people talking about democracy and human rights on CNN or in the newspapers, if you have to stop people from talking about it amongst themselves or on limited-circulation venues like blogs and webforums, then they must be very powerful ideas indeed.