More and more blocks

I was just catching up on a friend's Twitter feed (read through Google Reader), and realised that I couldn't go to any of the bit.ly links at all.  This is doubly frustrating because I don't know what the original URL is (I might, in fact, be able to view the site from here), and just...what the hell, China?  I know that it's a common shortener for Twitterers (Tweeters?) and whatnot to use, but it doesn't mean everything they're linking to is offensive.  It might be inane and time-wasting, but surely it should be up to me what I want to see?  It appears that pictures hosted on Imageshack are also unavailable, which is just annoying.  The main page loads, but the images don't.  I just wanted to look at pictures of cute, tiny animals.

I found a good summary in comment form on Wired.com, which covers most of the depressing blockages:

Posted by: tvnewswatch | 01/11/10 | 2:19 am |

I can confirm that Wired is not currently blocked in Beijing [11/01/2010]. However, as stated the blocking of sites is in ‘constant flux’. You incorrectly state the BBC is blocked. Not quite true. BBC Chinese is blocked, but only a few pages from the English version are affected by the GFW. Wikipedia is also largely unaffected, tho of late pictures on the site are not showing. Google.com is accessible, though many Google services are blocked.

IMDb was blocked last Wednesday [9th January] but is not alone in its being inaccessible. It joins the ranks of dozens of other sites, many of them social networking platforms or web 2.0 sites. As of January this year many Google services still remain blocked. Blogger, YouTube, Picasa web, Google Health, Google Sites, Google Groups, Google’s Development site, Chromium.org, the Chrome Extensions site and even the Google Wave invite link are all inaccessible. Google Docs is only accessible via the insecure http mode [not https] and even then it is unstable with spreadsheets blocked and direct access to folders and other functionality thwarted.

Social networking sites Facebook and Twitter are blocked and several other blogging platforms such as Typepad and Wordpress are also stymied by the censors. Sites that share content are also affected including Friendfeed, Tumblr, technorati, imageshack, Scribd, Dailymotion, Liveleak, Vimeo, Twitpic and Pirate Bay. Even some URL shorteners have been shut down including bit.y links. And in October last year the Python programming software download link was blocked.

For many expats, using the Internet is a particularly frustrating experience. Content shared by friends and family, as well as business colleagues outside China, is often unobtainable unless one is prepared to pay additional fees to foreign based VPN [Virtual Private Network] providers. Even then, some sites cannot be accessed.

Even where sites are not blocked they are often unstable. Google News is one such example. Links may not open the first time round and some links are preceded by a Google referrer which has to be deleted in order to open the required site. Many expats, still able to access Twitter via third party apps which bi-pass the Great Firewall, express their fear that the restrictions may go further and even block GMail, Skype and other communications’ tools. It’s all a guessing game, however, and the uncertainty is increasingly uncomfortable.

On the 'plus' side, after spending some time in Hong Kong without the GFW, I think I'm kind of over Facebook.  The incessant babble, anyway.  It's definitely fallen into the hands of the people who just don't really get it.

Posted via email from Banana Undercover