it's an extreme example, but a deadly fire in a Beijing cybercafe shows how driving activity underground necessarily makes it more dangerous.

the reaction has been predictably swift, and heavy-handed: thousands of licensed and unlicensed internet cafes have been shut down by the authorities. official China, afraid of the impact of unrestricted media on their citizens, has taken the opportunity to further stigmatize the internet and its users. as one Reuters article noted:

State media tried to justify the measures. "Don't let Internet bars destroy kids," read the front-page headline of a blistering article in the Communist Party organ the People's Daily, quoting a concerned mother from central Henan province.

The paper told how her 12-year-old boy turned from a star student into a strung-out Internet addict paying low prices to stay the night -- usually locked in -- at the crowded parlors, most of which are unlicensed and ignore a ban on minors.

a War on Information -- whether it's prosecuted by the most authoritarian governments in the world, or the richest firms on Wall Street -- has no chance of succeeding, but every chance of hurting the innocent.