The thought police are en-route... please remain in your seat. - Shmoe from IM

The only police that are here asked me to pay the bill. - Robert Scoble

The two secret police officers waiting outside to take you in :-P - Amit Morson

Now that's good police work. Did they ask you to pay their bill as well? :) - Shmoe

EEP. Be careful! - Tanya

My credit is getting crunched! Damn communists! :-) - Robert Scoble

Hi Robert, I've been following your posts from China and I'm quite impressed. Are we witnessing a radical change in China ? Should we be worried that this change will bring a major impact to our economies (bigger than the one we have already witnessed) ? - Miguel Albano

They are probably not as concerned about foreigners saying that. It's kind of expected really. It can be easy to think situation is better than it is, but undeniably I share your belief that the democratic situation is slowly improving. We shall not forget that democracy and freedom of speech must be reached by willing people in their own tempo. - Monia

There's always a work-around - paul mooney

It reminds me what Roger Waters once said "Fear Builds Walls" chinese government must be afraid on giving power to the people... - Peter Palatnik

Is there a moo.com competitors there? I can't find any. - adolfo foronda

Damn, Scoble's charm always saves him ;) - Pranav Bhasin

the Chinese are at a cross-rounds, the fred exchange of ideas is good for the country but bad for the government. I'm sure they'll find a work around, the Chinese have been the ultimate pragmatist for centuries. - Robert Hafer

The question is, can locals do that? You're a foreigner, and in the foreign media. They want you to be happy with your stay and report good things about China. I'm not sure, until they become a non-Communistic country, that the locals have complete freedom over there. - Jesse Stay

you will never leave the country alive - sofarsoShawn

You have 30 seconds... - Carlos Granier-Phelps

Imagine if they did stomp on Scoble. He would get tons of press for it, they would look bad, and only Robert wins. So I'm sure it's a strategic reason he is being left alone. I used to get emails from a record label in China. Haven't for years. He just disappeared. - MarkCarras

It's in their best interest to make an American think things are becoming freer, really. See if you can talk to some locals about this stuff, maybe then you'll start getting some pushback. - Victor Ganata

News of the day. Blogger Robert Scoble mysteriously disappeared, never to be heard from again. - gfurry

Wait, wait, wait.... Hold on here... Irish giving anything away for free? - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

They don't monitor everyone, trust me. You have to be a person of interest (well, I FIND YOU interesting). - Claudia Cragg

Those are good questions, can a local do the same thing? - Daltonsbriefs

can locals get together in China and blog about stuff that's on their mind? a reminder that Scoble is at CNBloggercon. 500 of China's top bloggers getting together. are there still limitations and restrictions. yes. positive change in China has been an evolution, not revolution. the former requiring patience. the latter being the quickest way to shut down positive change. - Christine Lu

But can a Chinese blogger openly criticize the central government? - Victor Ganata

Can locals do this? What I've heard is that they have and they often get away with it. But once in a while someone gets thrown into prison for speaking out too much, or too harshly, so they've learned to be nuanced with their criticism, or use humor. Several people were wearing shirts with river crabs on them. That is a direct criticism of the government, but in a way that no government official would be able to throw them in jail for. People are very resourceful in coming up with ways around stupid rules. - Robert Scoble

When I was in China a couple of years ago, except for momentary censoring on CNN, I saw no incursions into my freedom - Francine Hardaway from IM

And, yes, locals discuss this, and many other items very openly. The newspapers here have tons of news about the milk poisoning. That is a huge change from when I was last here (the state-owned media would have never discussed something like that here). Is it perfect? No way. Far from it. But it's a lot better than most people realize and it's changing fast. - Robert Scoble

I want to buy some of these subversive river crab shorts. Or possibly a river crab tie. Can't we all get behind subtly sticking it to the man? - Andrew

Occasional: I want one that says "I've been harmonized." (Blocked by Chinese censors). A river crab one would be fun too. - Robert Scoble

Perfect! And for those of you who did not catch Headbanger's reference to River Crab: rconversation.blogs.com/rconversation/2007/09/eating-river-cr.html - lonnie b hodge

Yesterday, I was interviewed by a European TV station after my Bloggercon presentation and they harped on the political ramifications of the event. I am far more interested in the global connections that will come of you and Shel Israel, David Feng and others being part of an amazing gathering of bloggers from across Asia. - lonnie b hodge

Lonnie - I wasn't referencing that, but Robert's comment previous to mine, but that is completely awesome. Thanks for the info! - Andrew

When you can read my blog of reviews for newer software that works on old slow 9x machines, from China (without using a proxy), we'll talk about it. Even my software site was blocked in China till I changed hosting at the beginning of this year. There is a whole lot of completely harmless non-political stuff that is blocked just to make sure other stuff on the same host can't be viewed. And this is how their actions affect ALL of us...not just people living in China. - April Russo (app103)

I mean, that's sort of what I expected. You can say what you like as long as you're careful and don't piss off the wrong people. But there's still that "as long as" part. - Victor Ganata