Do not adjust your monitors: a Chinese government critic has won a court case against his ISP in Beijing for taking his website offline. Economics professor Hu Xingdou's website was shut down by Beijing Xin Net for containing "illegal" content earlier this year, but a Daxing district court ruled last week that the ISP could not provide proof for its claims and ordered Xin Net to repay Hu's service fees from the past two years.

Hu was apparently known for discussing government corruption and police brutality on his website—sensitive topics that have historically gotten the attention of Chinese Internet censors pretty quickly. When Hu wrote about China's reeducation through labor system in March, however, Xin Net was apparently ordered from on high to close down Hu's website.

This series of events doesn't sound particularly surprising given the government's past actions when dealing with politically antagonistic bloggers, but Hu pushed back and sued Xin Net. According to the ISP's contract with users, it must first request that the content be taken down or changed before they shut down a website. The Daxing court said that Xin Net couldn't provide proof of illegal content and that it didn't adhere to its contract terms before removing Hu's site, hence handing him the victory and a refund of about $201 for two years of service.

The court decision is the first of its kind with regard to Internet censorship in China, though it did not directly address the issue of free speech. Such a decision is still significant, however, as it may help build a more solid precedent concerning online censorship. "This means the internet will be regulated more through a set of clear rules and less with arbitrary, intransparent decisions," Hu told the Financial Times. "It is a warning sign to the internet surveillance authorities as well."

Though we don't expect to see China's court system suddenly siding with censored bloggers, it's encouraging to see this kind of progress being made. The concept of "free speech" online is still a ways away when it comes to law enforcement in China, but baby steps towards a clearer set of rules will help define the relationship between ISPs, users, and the government.