Virtually Blocked
July 9th, 2009
I’m not a fan of Facebook, but I have greatly appreciated it has been a medium through which old (old) old friends from University (upstate New York) and High School (Florida and Alaska) and even Junior High School (Alaska) could track me down in China and say, “Hey, what happened to your hair?” Really, with each regained connection life becomes a bit cheerier, a bit more human.
The Net Nanny’s recent blockage of Facebook really seems more to flag just how out of control the powers that be seem than how powerful they’d like to present they really are. It’s like rounding up the kids on the playground, putting tape over their mouths and telling them not to say anything about the most recent school shooting. Of course everyone already knows about it! Why amplify the echo of the shotgun blasts with greater ham-fistedness?
Now, as far as I can tell, Facebook joins the ranks of the blocked with Youtube, Bloglines, and Twitter. The New York Times reports:
“… a Chinese equivalent [of Twitter], Fanfou, was running, … but [west-] related searches were blocked.
“Chinese search engines no longer give replies for searches related to the violence. Results of a Google search on Monday … [about events out west] turned up many links that had already been deleted on such well-trafficked Chinese Internet forums as Mop and Tianya.”
Certainly, the Net Nanny learns quickly; it’s watched how much information leaked out from Iran during the recent unrest via mobile phone by way of photos, footage and tweets, and has simply chosen to shut off all service in Urumuqi. Even Danwei.org, the China media commentator, has been blocked.
Of course, this gives me a great deal of confidence that one day, because the powers that be have yet again mishandled social commentary, that I won’t even be able to phone home I’ll be late because I’m having another couple rounds with the lads; or be even be able to contact the police because I might need an ambulance to help a Chinese citizen (loved one or not) who has been critically injured.
Then again, at least I won’t be plagued any longer by trying to remember the name and the photo of the once-pretty girl from thirty odd years ago who’s trying to make contact with me again through Facebook.
July 9th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
I’m very frustrated about this… While only an ad hoc Facebook user, the difficulty in accessing a wide range of sites I use for my work is really causing me to despair about the paranoid nanny state. Internal databases that use https now sometimes blocked, work sub domains also frequently blocked, competitor and industry sites blocked ad hoc,,, it is getting bizarre. While I do have access to VPN via my work overseas, this is also becoming unreliable and at times causing my computer to crash. The CCP really needs to grow up and let people get on with their work and their lives. The sanitised sandpit they want Chinese internet users to play in is not the real world.
July 10th, 2009 at 3:19 am
I’m not sure what the real affects of this will be, given that this came on the heels of Green Dam gate as well as a couple of other blockings of popular websites that managed to draw huge amounts of negative public attention to the issue of internet censorship as well as distrobution of proxies. All this will do is make even more people aware of it, dislike it, and find ways around it.
July 10th, 2009 at 7:27 am
Chris and Outcast;
I think you both have a point that both ordinary Chinese netizens and companies are beginning to push back on the sanitization of Chinese cyberspace. Netizens threatened to attach government servers if the Green Dam initiative did come to pass on July 1 (2009), and international corporations forcefully said the intrusive software on their platforms was simply no way to do business.
The Chinese government is a pioneer with its censorship models; it’s traversing virgin territory. One day it just may regretfully find the world is flatter than it had thought.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:18 am
I hope the Facebook staff will do something about this. I have been a loyal user of FB ever since its early beginnings. I use the site everyday not just for communicating with friends but also for my personal business. I have invested thousands of dollars for my ads to run and I profited as well.
But now that FB is not accessible to China, how can I continue with my business? Some people thinks that it’s just a virtual world and an addiction, but for me, I use FB as a source of income to give a better future to my kids. I own a business in China, and now we are simply shutting down thanks to their governments policies.
Coming to China is the worst investment I made.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:22 am
For people outside China and are still living in the free world, please don’t forget about us. Keep in mind that we are still thinking of you and can’t wait to get out of this f**ktardcountry. Let our voices be heard and let the truth come out.
I have never been fond of America’s atrocities to the Middle East but at least they generally spare the innocent from these.
July 15th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Hi, Xena and George;
I certainly hear you both. I think Chinese netizens as well are nearing the end of their tether with the censorship. The Green Dam initiative was the first time I’ve ever seen domestic users push back hard on the Committee’s machinations. Who knows? Maybe the powers that be will actually one day realize they can’t hold back the ocean of information lapping over the GFW.
July 21st, 2009 at 1:29 am
“But now that FB is not accessible to China, how can I continue with my business?”
Use proxies, that’s what everyone else does.
“Keep in mind that we are still thinking of you and can’t wait to get out of this f**ktardcountry”
No one’s forcing you to stay dude.