There are reports that the blog-hosting service Blogetery has been shut down for unspecified reasons by the U.S. government. As a result, 73,000 WordPress blogs have abruptly gone dark. Info (such as it is) is here.
At about the same time, the government of China pulled the plug on dozens of blogs and social networking sites. Info on that is here.
Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.
China's action is in keeping with its campaign to suppress the spread of dissent via the Internet. It shut down Twitter and Facebook operations in the country last year. Critics of the government embraced alternative services offering similar outlets. Many of them have now gone silent.
Given that history, China's abrupt move is understandable (if despicable). The U.S. government's action is less comprehensible. Blogs and bulletin board sites have been shut down before, usually as part of a file-sharing enforcement action. But shutting down an entire host because of the activities of some of the websites it hosts? That is apparently unprecedented.
The geek.com account suggests there was an urgent law enforcement matter involved. What sort of crime could it have been that required the government to stifle thousands of blogs, all at once? Given the timing, did the U.S. government act at the behest of China to shut down sites the Beijing government considers subversive? If so, why take down an entire hosting service instead of just those sites targeted by China?
Any ideas -- and further information -- would be greatly appreciated.