China Blocks Access to Bing, Twitter, Flickr and More

Today, ReadWriteWeb posted an article stating how the Chinese government started to block a number of websites, including Twitter, Flickr, Blogger, Hotmail, and Microsoft’s new search engine Bing. The reason for the firewall comes directly for preparation of the 20th anniversary of the crackdown on democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. The Guardian also reports that the Great Firewall now also blocks access to more than 6,000 online forums affiliated with colleges and universities

Concerns from the government spawned from user’s ability to share graphic photos, video and audio of the event that happened 20 years ago. However what’s interesting to me is not the ethics of this firewall but if the government would have less of a negative impact if they didn’t put up the firewall and just engaged in the conversation on the anniversary. It seems to me that putting up the firewall has spurred remembrance of that day and call to action rather than quieting the crowds and memories of Tiananmen Square. Especially since anyone who knows something about computers can work around the firewall.
What do you think?