I received word from a friend in China late Wednesday night (Thursday morning in China) that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) "in all its wisdom" (to quote my friend) decided to block access to Gmail.
Apparently, this is part of China's renewed crackdown on Internet pornography. According to the Wall Street Journal, enforcement have grown so strict, even websites on sexual health face restrictions. It appears that Google has finally put its foot down (fingers crossed) and has refused to further censor its content in China to prevent users with Chinese IP addresses from accessing pornographic material through its search engine.
Of course, an easy way to get around this is to use either a web proxy (like this or this) or use a proxy from a free list server. These methods are very popular among Chinese students and tech-savvy adults.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Trade Representative Ron Kirk issued a letter to the Chinese government on a related subject: the "Green Dam Youth Escort" filtering software. The software will come pre-installed on all new computers sold in China beginning July 1st. However, the government has come down a bit after citizen reacted strongly against a requirement to actually use the software. Unfortunately, not all citizens will know how to deactivate the software.
Friday, June 26, 2009
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