Last week, several newswire services reported that the popular Google search engine was blocked in China. The reports are based on a testing method developed by Jonathan Zittrain and Benjamin Edelman, two researchers at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Using Zittrain and Edelman's testing methods indicated that Google's Web site was blocked from China.
In the last several days, several other Web sites that incorporate Google's underlying Web technology in their own search functions have also been blocked. The most prominent example was the U.S.- based Yahoo!, which uses Google's technology as its default search results provider. When a Web search is performed on Yahoo!, results are displayed from both Yahoo!'s directory of Web sites (which is maintained by Yahoo! surfers who visit and categorize sites) and Google's search engine.
No part of the Yahoo! site was blocked as of Friday, September 6. Over the weekend, several Chinese users reported on e-mail lists that Google search results were accessible through Yahoo! and other sites. By September 9, Chinese censors apparently responded by blocking search results on Yahoo!'s site from Google's search engine. Results from Yahoo!'s directory of sites were temporarily blocked on September 9 but currently remain accessible.
Chinese users have reported that when going to the Google site they were redirected to other sites. One user told the Digital Freedom Network that she was redirected to a Beijing University search engine page that said, "Users visiting Google may be redirected to the Tianwang search engine or other mainland search engines. This has not been caused by Tianwang and neither is it something that Tianwang hopes to see. We hope that surfers can be understanding and forgiving."
Chinese-language Yahoo! still accessible
Other parts of the Yahoo! site, such as Yahoo!'s mail and discussion groups, appear to be unaffected. The Chinese-language version of Yahoo!, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.S.-based Yahoo!, also does not appear to be blocked. Yahoo! China signed the "Public Pledge on Self-Discipline for China Internet Industry," a voluntary pledge by organizations within China to monitor and control Internet content.
While parts of the pledge appear benign, signatories also pledge to refrain from production or dissemination "that may jeopardize state security and disrupt social stability, contravene laws and regulations and spread superstition and obscenity." In practice, such information is generally understood to mean material related to such taboo topics as the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Tibet, and the Falun Gong spiritual group.
In a statement, Yahoo!'s associate general counsel said that the content restrictions stated in the pledge "impose no greater obligation than already exists in laws in China." The lawyer also stated that Yahoo! will conform to local laws in countries where it operates.
Cat-and-mouse game
The growing list of sites that are blocked reflects the speed with which Chinese censors try to block content they consider threatening. Within hours of reports that Google's search results could be accessed through part of Yahoo!'s search engine, that section was blocked.
Since Google licenses its search technology to many sites on the Internet, a complete block of Google's technology will be almost impossible. Thus, determined Internet users in China can perform Web searches from other sites that use Google's technology, such as looksmart.com. Furthermore, users can try to access any of thousands of proxy servers — intermediaries that handle traffic between a computer and the rest of the Internet. However, proxy servers can be difficult to find, and government censors reportedly search the Internet looking for proxy servers to block.
Chinese Net users might take comfort in the short life of many of the country's tough Internet restrictions. Some Chinese cybercafe users have recently reported that many of the new regulations passed after a devastating June fire in a Beijing Internet cafe — such as the requirement that users show identification — are being ignored. In the past, China has also lifted bans on some sites, such as the New York Times and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, after lobbying and media attention. For now, though, Chinese users face the prospect of more blockades of information online.
Source:
http://dfn.org/news/china/google.htm
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