China's Internet conference is all about censorship

[Commentary] China hosted an Internet conference. Has one of world's heaviest-handed cyber censors decided to join the digital marketplace of ideas? Hardly. Check out the guest list, including delegates from such freedom-loving places as Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

The purpose of this conference was not to be to open the Internet, but how better to close it. China is promoting the idea of "Internet sovereignty," which is basically a web of fiefdoms gagged by official censors. Promoters of censorship can meet all they want, but the Internet -- for better or for worse -- is based on the principle of free and open access. Not even Alibaba can put that genie back in the bottle.