In open societies we are used to being able to say what we feel, whether about personal matters like attitudes to sex, or more public issues like our views on the invasion of Iraq. There are limits to free speech, but they seem far enough from our ordinary topics of conversation to be disregarded. This is not true in closed countries like Iran, China and Saudi Arabia. As Hossein Derskahan says, "individuality, self-expression, tolerance are new values which are quite obvious through a quick study of the content of Persian weblogs." These values are not endorsed or promoted by the authorities, so it is not surprising that blogs are now being closed down and their authors arrested.