“China No Longer Has Internet. It Has LAN”
Lost Laowai sums up the most recent spate of blocked sites for Internet users in China:
So, to add to lengthy list of blocked websites from earlier this summer (see the footnote, at the end of this post) we must now add a few more:
Vimeo
Friendfeed
Bit.ly (URL shortening service)
Post.ly (URL shortening service)
Blip.tv
Yahoo Meme
Google Documents
Fileden.com
iTweet.net (a twitter web app)
Twitzap (a twitter web app)
TwitterGadget (a tiny twitter app on iGoogle)The situation really is getting ridiculous. A few other ways to access twitter still exist, thankfully. Just this afternoon one China-based expat on twitter commented that “China no longer has internet. It has LAN” (h/t @illuminantceo), which is an apt description of how insular and freaky it’s getting.
Tor, the anti-censorship, Internet privacy tool, has also been blocked, Technology Review reports:
For the first time, the Chinese government has attacked one of the best, most secure tools for surfing the Internet anonymously. The clampdown against the tool, called Tor, came in the days leading up to the 60th anniversary of China’s “national day” on October 1. It is part of a growing trend in which repressive nations orchestrate massive clampdowns during politically sensitive periods, in addition to trying to maintain Internet firewalls year-round.
“It was the first time the Chinese government has ever even included Tor in any sort of censorship circumvention effort,” says Andrew Lewman, the executive director of Tor Project, the nonprofit that maintains the Tor software and network. “They were so worried about October 1, they went to anything that could possibly circumvent their firewall and blocked it.”
See a video produced by Technology Review which interviews the project leader of Tor about the uses of the service.
POSTED COMMENTS: 4 Responses
[...] China no longer has internet, it has LAN, http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/10/%e2%80%9cchina-no-longer-has-internet-it-has-lan%e2%80%9d/ [...]
Yeah, but seriously–who cares what some foreigner in China thinks? Why does every foreigner who goes to China think all of a sudden they have something interesting to say, when in fact nobody cares who they are or what they say in their home country? If unfettered Internet access is so important to you, please pack your bags and move your laowai ass back to the West.
Agreed!
So you think anyone cares what YOU say? I guarantee you more people are interested in the laowai that posted that twitter comment than YOU. Maybe that’s your problem.