I’m stuck in the PRC for another number of months, and I am frustrated by a number of websites that are blocked by the Great Firewall. I’m using web proxies at the moment, but some things like Facebook and YouTube don’t work properly. Any ideas to try to get full functionality out of the internet from the PRC?
since Cisco, Yahoo, Microsoft and Google all bend over backwards to meet China’s demands, the reality is when China really wants to block something, there is no work around nowadays.
There are times when China really really want to block you, like around June 4th, or Octobert 1st.
Other times the China’s net army might feel more generous. Time like that there some a few things that might work. To name a few:
http://hotspotshield.com/
Tor + Firefox + FoxyProxy
there are more, but this October 1st, all these failed to wrk for my friend. With the internet infrastructure companies building back doors for China, there is no work around when governments want information control.
right now I can get around to a lot of things, just not working properly. And things worked worse since October 1, and haven’t gotten better since.
I still find it amusing how google just doesn’t work when I search for something I realize in retrospect the PRC would want to block.
You don’t get a ‘result blocked’ message?
I just get a “This page would not load” message.
Interesting. Google blocks results, but informs the user (that’s their interpretation of not being evil in China.) China must be blocking pages that contain that message now.
this is what China does.
it will sifting through your packets looking for keywords. if unauthorized keywords is discovered, their hardware can break your TCP connection, resulting in the “This page would not load”.
I wonder how long it will be before China revises its stance on this issue.
i think it’s China influencing the rest of the world in how to control information, not the other way around. China is very proud of the way their policy is working, because they use the rapid economic growth to keep the urban people happy. And those oppressed in rural areas aren’t able to pass the information out to assemble any kind of unity to ask for change.
In their mind, “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”. Unless their economy bubble breaks, otherwise nothing is going to change. And before change arrives, i fear their will divert national attention else where through the means of military actions.
I think internet controls is being implemented by the US and other Developed Nations because they realized they can by the examples of China. You can justify anything with “National Security”. That’s the legacy of China’s rise.
Maybe I am too optimistic, but I think any efforts to control the internet are going to prove untenable. In china’s case I believe the economic growth is eventually what will force them to change that policy. If only because the generation of wealth will give ‘everyday’ people the power to make their voices heard. Of course I may just be incredibly ignorant of chinese culture.
Sorry, I can’t add anything beneficial to this thread (beyond my knowledge), but I have to ask. Is the “Great Firewall of China” something you made up or is it a popular term? I just appreciate great puns.
It’s a pretty popular term (IE I found it within five minutes of googling answers from home to the problem, turns out my answers weren’t as good in practice.
I don’t see this level of censorhip working as well outside of China; those of us on the outside are used to a fairly high level of freedom of information, and would fight against it being blocked. Plus I think there would be a general male revolt in the US if the government tried to block all internet porn.
would be true if blocks are software level. unfortunately, like i side, US companies are complying with the Chinese government, and the blocks and sifts are now implemented from the server hardware level. So what used to break through the GFW in 2003 or even in 2006 are now largely ineffective.
So unless things can be down to those servers and routers, chances are there will no longer be a way to break through the GFW. Even if you have SSH protected connections so that the GFW andthe net army can’t sift through your keywords, they can still cut connections they can’t see at random.
as for what US government has learn from China’s push for censorship, there are articles online that discuss it.
Do you feel that the government has the right to block pages that tells you how to make a bomb? It’s for national security! And once you agree to that, everything the government needs for the level of control China has on its citizens will be in place in the US as well. Chances are they already are, thanks to a certain security minded president. And you will never know how far they go with it.
Just wondering if FC has found a way to get pass the Great Firewall yet…
i just found out today from my friend working in China that imageshack.us is blocked by China.
Well, I’ve a handful of proxies that let me do most of what I want, but nothing is perfect. Mostly I’m looking forward to a couple of months from now when I ship home.
I was like “Huh? Why would I need to bypass the Great Firewall?”
I go by fc too. Lowercase though. d:
England has just passed laws to restrict internet usage. like I said earlier in this thread, perhaps one day we will all need to try and bypass the Great Firewall…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/world/asia/08censor.html?ref=technology
newest New York Times report on the firewall. Appearently you can search for “carrot” in China because it might imply the president…
anyway, Information Tech is a business. Isn’t China violating some kind of trade law if they are just banning youtube, twitter to promote Chinese replacements?