Ahh, the irony: Beijing hosts the 17th International World Wide Web Conference (wrapping up today) just a few kilometers from where its record number of cyberdissidents sit behind bars. To add to this, one of the conference sponsors is Yahoo, which infamously aided the People's Republic in locating and imprisoning journalist Shi Tao.

Reporters Without Borders condemned the "One World, One Web" meeting -- Beijing's Olympic motto is "One World, One Dream," which has also been used by Tibet protesters -- as a "provocation." The press-freedom organization, which has been pivotal in pre-Olympic protests, said:

“Among other things, the conference is about the importance of Internet users in society, how they are becoming more and more active in creating online virtual communities. But in China, voicing one’s views online is a crime if they do not accord with what the party thinks. Nothing in the programme suggests that online freedom of expression has been tackled. But a minimum of decency and respect for China’s imprisoned cyber-dissidents would have demanded this.”

Well said!!

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)