Bloggers in Kazakhstan recently staged a mock funeral for the internet to protest about a draft law they claim will smother free speech in the central Asian country’s virtual chat rooms. The deceased, a computer mouse, was delivered in a cardboard coffin to Kazakhtelekom, the state telephone company, followed by mourners carrying flowers.

The theatrical protest was the latest skirmish in what internet users have taken to calling the battle for “blogistan” as authoritarian governments in central Asia try to extend their control over conventional media to the untamed internet.