Quick check on Google access just now

[roddy]

I'm on Netcom, as most domestic users will be in Beijing I think.

[gato]

I'm on Netcom, as most domestic users will be in Beijing I think.

I think those who are accessing the internet via university network are not using China Netcom.

They may on what's called CERNET

http://www.edu.cn/HomePage/cernet_fu_wu/about_cernet/index.shtml

http://www.bjnet.edu.cn/

[etcetera24]

I'm on China Netcom as well.

On the plus side, Gmail just freed up right now, although who knows how long this will last!

[md1101]

hey roddy, im presuming that proxy site you use is accessble in china? whats to stop that site from being blocked... say after i subscribe?

[roddy]

As I understand it they run a number of different mirrors which you can access by ip address, so if one goes you can switch to another one. I've just been accessing by url for over 6 months now though, and its still fine.

I guess it's possible it might get shut down, but worse case scenario is that I lose a small amount of cash. I think it's already extremely keenly priced, so I'm not that worried.

Roddy

[Battosai]

Been having so much trouble with google here that I just use ask.com these days

for wikipedia i use answers.com

for mail i use fastmail.com

as much as i like google their only service i can use here in china is 'picasa for linux'

[gougou]

Just now, www.google.com was back. Two minutes later it redirected to www.google.com/Intl/ZH-cn (or similar.) Two minutes later it was completely gone again.

Then, I came across this, which works fine here while everything else is dead: psst

[roddy]

Oooooh, nice. First thing I used it for was to search for the official Google blog to ask about their current issues in China. And it's hosted on . . . . BLOGSPOT!!! Which is blocked!!!!

You've got to laugh. Because if you didn't, you'd go made and rip someone's throat out. That's what I always say.

[gougou]

There's also Google's Chinese Blog, which, judging by a quick scan over the headlines, is not aware that the page it is talking about is not available to the the people it is talking to...

[rose~]

I don't know whether you have Google back yet, but these links are suggested in the Google "bar" on Baidu:

http://www.51linking.com/lj/google.htm

http://images.google.com/webhp?hl=zh-CN&btnG=Google+%E6%90%9C%E7%B4%A2&lr=

[Silver Surfer]

Same here (Liaoning province) Google on and off, mostly off, since a week or so. No problem with gmail though.

Found that website meanwhile just in case: http://searchenginewatch.com/ Many alternative search engines address avalable (of course Google remains the top one).

[roddy]

I have google back today - was going to post in the morning, but decided to wait till after my post-lunch nap in case it disappeared again, but it's till here.

[Marco]

I haven't had any problems with Google, exept ofcourse if i want to find any thing about tibet or so, for those who have problems, try to use google.nl or any other country's, search results are mostly the same. For those who use hotmail, I have mine linked with outlook and even when the side is off i still can open my mails in outlook.

It is true though that your mails are read and blocked even, I had a friend who was a journalist, his mails were read his phone line taped, and because he send some mails and called me I had the same problem, make sure that if you send any thing by mail that could get you in trouble,you use an address that not contains your name or anything they can use to track you down with.

on the other hand, i can get almost any information I want, mainly because I speak more then one language, it is impossible for them to block everything in every Language.

Marco

[doumeizhen]

Subject: Google signals u-turn

*********************************************************

Source: The Guardian (6/8/06): http://www.guardian.co.uk

Google signals U-turn over Chinese site

By Oliver Burkeman in New York and Bobbie Johnson

Internet giant Google may reverse its decision to launch a censored version

of its search engine in China, one of the company's founders has said.

Sergey Brin said the Californian company had "felt that perhaps we could

compromise on our principles, but provide ultimately more information for

the Chinese" with Google.cn, which does not link to results for politically

incendiary terms such as "Tiananmen Square" or "Falun Gong", the religious

movement banned by the Chinese government.

But Mr Brin said he could consider reversing that decision. "Perhaps now the

principled approach makes more sense," he told reporters in Washington.

Google was widely accused of ignoring its informal motto, "Don't be evil",

in favour of commercial gain when the Chinese service began in January.

Campaigners have voiced strong concerns about the conflict between the

repressive regime in Beijing and Google's commitment to freedom of

information, but representatives for the company have argued that a policy

of engagement is more valuable to Chinese internet users than refusing to

deal with the authorities. Mr Brin intimated that Google could now be

considering another approach.

"It's perfectly reasonable to do something different, to say, 'Look, we're

going to stand by the principle against censorship, and we won't actually

operate there'. That's an alternate path," said the Russian-born

entrepreneur, 31, who founded Google with Larry Page in 1996, when they were

at Stanford University.

Google has claimed that Chinese surfers can use its main portal, Google.com,

to read material that does not appear on the censored site. But it is

thought that Mr Brin's comments may have been precipitated by reports that

the international site has been inaccessible throughout much of China for

long periods of time - apparently blocked by the so-called Great Firewall,

which prevents access to websites the government deems unsavoury.

"I don't think they were that comfortable with the decision in the first

place," said Danny Sullivan, editor of the Search Engine Watch website. "But

Google.com has never worked perfectly within China - that, after all, is the

reason why Google caved in to create an approved Chinese edition."

Two months ago Google's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, said that entering

the Chinese market was the right thing to do and that the company had no

intention of confronting the government.

"I'm wondering if Google are really hypocritical or just naive," said Julian

Pain of media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, which campaigns against

online censorship. "They never made a clear statement about what they would

accept from the Chinese and what they wouldn't - now they're not sure about

how far they can go. I hope they start realising that the internet is a

global network and that doing something in one part of the world has an

effect in another."

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited

[roddy]

Anyone seen access problems again lately? Mine seems to have been off during working hours,but fine early morning / evening. Google.cn is still fine, naturally.

[liuzhou]

I was having problems last night (around 10 - 11PM). Seems OK this morning.

[stickyrice]

for 99% of the last week.

[adrianlondon]

I've noticed I lose access to google for 30 seconds or so if I search for something that the govt might not want me to, such as yahoo news items in HK.

[johnd]

I've had problems with Google last week, when others sitting next to me have none. I was wondering if it's due to Google's personalized home page triggering the block? Didn't manage to pinpoint it though. For a while I couldn't open google.com or google.cn, even though I could ping google.

[roddy]

Mine's been back to normal, have tied my toes into the crossed position to try and keep it that way.