Why doesn't G just turn on SSL on it's search
servers and redirect all users to those...then the
Chinese Gov couldn't see what was being passed
back and forth.
China blocking some Google search results
Summary
Google has confirmed that the Chinese authorities have begun blocking certain terms from a local search engine, after the company said it would no longer censor results for those terms itself.
Topics
Google has confirmed that the Chinese authorities have begun blocking certain terms from a local search engine, after the company said it would no longer censor results for those terms itself.
The Chinese government's Golden Shield, which uses Cisco routers to censor terms deemed inappropriate by the authorities, is filtering out sensitive search terms used on Google.co.hk, the search company told ZDNet UK on Tuesday.
Read Special Report: Google, China showdown
"Certain terms seem to be being blocked by the firewall," said a Google spokesperson, referring to the 'Great Firewall of China', the popular nickname for Golden Shield.
The Chinese government has not made any comment on whether it is blocking search terms on Google.com.hk. However, it has reacted to Google's actions, saying on Tuesday that the company was "totally wrong" to stop censoring its Chinese language search results, according to Chinese government portal Xinhua.
For more of this story, read China blocking some Google search results on ZDNet UK.
Talkback Most Recent of 13 Talkback(s)
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CobaltDragon23rd Mar 2010 -
Too expensive
SSL consumes considerably more resource than normal traffic - at the scal of google and China as "client" this becomes a real issue
csaager24th Mar 2010 -
What are they hiding?
I looked at a list of some of the sites that they are trying to block.
A very small sample are some news sites like the Huffington and NYTimes, Wikipiedia, blogging sites, several local search sites including Yahoo.
Glad I don't live there.
Bunch of weirdos.
MoeFugger23rd Mar 2010 -
2 reasons to be careful when you post
i don't know who or what your sources are but they are definitely not credible.
i have been living in china for 3 years now
i use "Wikipedia" all the time
i use yahoo all the time
NYTimes? yes i can access this and huffington.
the only websites I have come across that have been blocked are websites that contain explicit adult material (obviously) and websites similar facebook, twitter and the like which is all just rubbish banter anyways
its no secret that china has been filtering out web searches, and all this time until recent Google has been aiding in that
by the way id like to point out i am not Chinese however i am still slightly offended by moefuggers racist statement, even a simple word like weirdos can be taken that way when referring to a ethnicity of people in this case the Chinese, i am sure if i went to a group of African Americans or any other ethnic group and told them i think they are all weirdos i would probably leave with at least a black eye,
and it would be normal and i would deserve it. So please its easy to hide behind your computer to voice your opinion but be careful what you say about other people it may offend them.
cheers
kash19123rd Mar 2010 -
Rubbish
They censor a lot of Tibet freedoms sites, they censor blogs that call for Tibet freedom, they monitor and arrest bloggers who are critical of the party, e.g.
http://blogcritics.org/culture/article/well-known-blogger-arrested-in-china/
Be offended all you like, the criticism of China is a valid one.
And no it's not racism, the criticism is of the unelected government that rules the country by force, not the people.
guihombre24th Mar 2010 -
BRAINWASH Alert
Another brainwashing attempt to make us believe that :
Google is nice, very nice trust them.
China is evil
(you could also add : Iran is evil, kill 'em all and Muslims are evils kill'em all while you're at it)
All these innocent messages you see here are part of a vast disinformation campaign about China.
The real evil is the Google/NSA/CIA datacenters who monitors everything and have an internal spy system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-Q-Tel
neeeko24th Mar 2010 -
misunderstandings
normally i don't circle back once i have made my point, however it seems that it has been taken the wrong way; keep in mind i am not Chinese and i am completely neutral as far as government goes
first off i did not say that china does not censor information, far from it il fully admit they do hence why i can't access facebook
i would not know about Tibet freedom sites because that sort of thing is not my fight but that's beside the point, i was only pointing out that the many examples made previously were not valid, done and done im not crusading to show all of you that china has no part of this, because that would be as your comment suggests "rubbish" im well aware they monitor the information flying through the internet and im 95% sure that they are monitoring my internet activity as a foreigner living in china. if i was not clear about this in my previous post i apologize
im just saying "bunch of weirdos" (as very minimal of a insult it may be but still a insult) may possibly be seen as a statement towards the Chinese people and not the govt and it may not it depends on the person reading, its kinda up in the air to remove this possibility its very easy to re-word that statement to steer clear from any confusion,
but there are many ways to criticize something without bringing name calling in to it IMOkash19124th Mar 2010 -
What?
For the record, "Chinese" is not really an "ethnicity", it's a nationality, and a term of Cultural identity. China is controlled by the Han ethnicity... and, they're not very nice to some of the other Chinese (the country) ethnic groups either BTW.
I've been in China for a total of 8 years during the past 10 years, and the censorship and government hard line on dissent has definitely gotten worse, particularly in the last 5 years. There was a small, false, window leading up to the Olympics, but that's it. Basically it's the mandateless, corrupt CCP trying to keep their dirty claws on the reins of power.
The BBC was blocked for years until a few months before the Olympics. Wikipedia has been repeatedly blocked for extended periods. The very useful Google Docs have been, and continue to be blocked. At one time, all Google services, inc. Gmail, were blocked for an extended period during which time BaiDu, an even greater 'offender', was given a virtually free rein.
There are many other extraordinary extra-legal anti-foreign business practices in China, both from the Government, and from the competitors of foreign enterprises.
You think that only idiots and exhibitionists use social net-working sites? That's ignorant, and just kowtows to Beijing's unreasonable censorship.
The corrupt, mandateless Chinese Government needs to protect legally operating foreign enterprises in China from illegal hacking and IP theft. That's the other side of this issue. It's even worse that it seems likely that the Chinese Govt itself acted to attack Google.
teachertim6925th Mar 2010 -
@Brainwashing
[Was intended to reply to Brainwashing comment, I hit the wrong reply button].
I oppose filtering of news, because how can a person make up their mind, if they are only allowed to see a subset of the viewpoints and information available?
Thus I welcome your anti-Google rant, but it misses the bigger picture:
Namely that China is a military dictatorship that blocks information from its citizens so they cannot make their minds up based on the full story.
And it is good that Google decides to no longer support China's military dictatorship in their censorship. And this is true if it was Cisco or Nokia or Apple that did this.
Oh, and you should also fix that NSA spying too, but then I can be both against China dictatorship and USA building pre-cursor technology of dictatorship.
guihombre24th Mar 2010 -
RE: China blocking some Google search results
What most here seem to forgot.. That is is China's right to block what they want. Alot of Amercians seem to think that the US Constitution covers the world now days.. It does not. We have more freedoms because you have faught and died for them.
If the people of China want more freedoms then they have to fight for them..
For anyone who is will to give up freedom for secuirty will soon learn that they have neither.
rparker00925th Mar 2010 -
List of roles that why a website will be blocked in China
1. Website with sexual picture and content. spreading sexual media in China is considered criminal. I really don't understand why these information should be blocked. There is debate in China between older and young generation about this too.
2. Website that support the independence of Tibet, Taiwan, Xinjiang etc. These is related to national security, so I don't have problem with that. By the way, these independence group are all supported by United States FBI, Voice of American, etc. So don't be surprised if any website located in United States are blocked. Chinese National security group definitely have the information that you have no idea.
3. A particular religion group call FLG. They organized their believer attacked Chinese government and protest by burning themselves. They are now supported by FBI too. You can see them in Washington D.C. a lot.
4. Any website trying to promote acute Democracy revolution in China. Chinese government believe acute Democracy revolution will lead to civil war and the split of China. In contrast, discussion about slow Democratization improvement is not prohibited. Small scale experiment before revolution is proved successfully again and again, so they want to stick with it.
wskwntei25th Mar 2010 -
i agree with wskwntei
i agree... a stable chinese government is what the world needs. who else is going to invest in global infrastructure? washington prefers to give all of the USA's resources to wall street to buy worthless toxic "assets" so the speculators can continue to rob trillions. china is, on the other hand, investing in productive infrastructure globally. could china be the glue that holds the world together? we'll have to watch and see...
damasterwc25th Mar 2010 -
RE: China blocking some Google search results
i agree... a stable chinese government is what the world needs. who else is going to invest in global infrastructure? washington prefers to give all of the USA's resources to wall street to buy worthless toxic "assets" so the speculators can continue to rob trillions. china is, on the other hand, investing in productive infrastructure globally. could china be the glue that holds the world together? we'll have to watch and see...damasterwc25th Mar 2010
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