The BBC has a feature today claiming China's censorship of the Internet is highly effective.

In some ways China has been effective. All ISPs and access points are licensed and monitored. The Great Firewall of China rejects controversial queries. A blogger who criticized the authorities using their own name would be quickly arrested.

But there's a lot more to the story than that:

1. As the story makes clear, many Chinese who want to learn forbidden things find ways to do it.
2. Many Chinese who want to express forbidden thoughts find round-about ways to do it.
3. Freedom that comes through an eye-dropper can be more precious than that which comes from a fire hose.
4. The story ignores mobile service entirely. About 400 million Chinese now have mobile phones. About 90 million acquire them every year. The authorities cannot monitor these two-way communications.

I strongly suspect the Chinese authorities understand all these limits, but it's in their interest to push the idea that they are succeeding.

The struggle to open Chinese minds is being won, not lost. The Great Wall failed to hold off the Mongol hordes, and the Great Firewall of China is doing no better against freedom.