'Clouding' the Issue - the Great Firewall

[Randy W]

This can't be good news for accessing CFL from China - increased blockage of Google API services have already affected our performance

China blocks thousands more websites as ‘Great Firewall’ targets cloud services

 

Quote

According to internet freedom watchdog GreatFire.org, the EdgeCast content delivery network (CDN), which “provides cloud services to thousands of websites and apps in China”, has been partially blocked by the so-called Great Firewall.

The websites of a number of major international companies have been affected by the block, including The Atlantic, Sony Mobile, and websites related to the Firefox web browser.

“We have been hearing from our CDN and monitoring partners throughout the industry and our own customers that more sites, CDNs and networks are being filtered or blocked by the Great Firewall of China,” EdgeCast said in a statement posted on its website.

“This week we’ve seen the filtering escalate with an increasing number of popular web properties impacted and even one of our many domains being partially blocked … with no rhyme or reason as to why.”

 

. . .

 

Blocking the entire cloud domain would cause significant harm to the businesses of the thousands of Chinese websites, including major corporations, who Amazon says depend on its services for database management and other cloud computing.

“[The Great Firewall] cannot distinguish traffic to our mirror sites and other traffic to the cloud provider which means they cannot block access to our mirror sites without blocking access to all the sites hosted by the CDN,” GreatFire said in a blog post.

“We have acknowledged all along that our method of using ‘collateral freedom’ hinges on the gamble that the Chinese authorities will not block access to global CDNs because they understand the value of China being integrated with the global internet.”

“However […] the authorities are doing just that – attempting to cut China off from the global internet.”

 

 

An ongoing topic - click here for Most Recent Post

Edited November 16, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Dennis143]

 

This can't be good news for accessing CFL from China - increased blockage of Google API services have already affected our performance

China blocks thousands more websites as ‘Great Firewall’ targets cloud services

 

According to internet freedom watchdog GreatFire.org, the EdgeCast content delivery network (CDN), which “provides cloud services to thousands of websites and apps in China”, has been partially blocked by the so-called Great Firewall.

The websites of a number of major international companies have been affected by the block, including The Atlantic, Sony Mobile, and websites related to the Firefox web browser.

“We have been hearing from our CDN and monitoring partners throughout the industry and our own customers that more sites, CDNs and networks are being filtered or blocked by the Great Firewall of China,” EdgeCast said in a statement posted on its website.

“This week we’ve seen the filtering escalate with an increasing number of popular web properties impacted and even one of our many domains being partially blocked … with no rhyme or reason as to why.”

 

. . .

 

Blocking the entire cloud domain would cause significant harm to the businesses of the thousands of Chinese websites, including major corporations, who Amazon says depend on its services for database management and other cloud computing.

“[The Great Firewall] cannot distinguish traffic to our mirror sites and other traffic to the cloud provider which means they cannot block access to our mirror sites without blocking access to all the sites hosted by the CDN,” GreatFire said in a blog post.

“We have acknowledged all along that our method of using ‘collateral freedom’ hinges on the gamble that the Chinese authorities will not block access to global CDNs because they understand the value of China being integrated with the global internet.”

“However […] the authorities are doing just that – attempting to cut China off from the global internet.”

 

 

Sounds like a gigantic juggling act. Who knows where the ball will get dropped and what the effect will be? I suppose continuing with the belief that as long as the truth isn't known then ignorance is bliss and everyone will go on their happy way...

[Randy W]

For me, I'm reminded every time I turn on the computer and first connect to CFL - I see the message "connecting to ajax.googleapis.com" for an extended time at the bottom of the screen, and I take it as 'time to turn on the VPN'.

 

It's a shame that they play these games with Western technologies that affect our response, even at the expense of some of their own (the CPC's) web sites.

 

But many Chinese sites that don't connect to the Western API and cloud functionalities aren't affected.

[Mick]

Any time someone blocks the free flow of information, it is a losing proposition in the long run. What it creates is a group of people laboring under a false reality, a reality defined for them by the gate keepers. China does it, we do it too, albeit in a different way. Our government calls it "Classified Information," or in other cases, "spin doctoring," but the reality is the same - erecting a barricade to the free flow of information. It basically sucks . . . .

Edited November 19, 2014 by Mick (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Gmail now blocked in China.

 

China’s Censors Take Final Step in Blocking Gmail

China has upped the ante in its longstanding censorship of all things Google. In the six months since Google’s mail service Gmail was blocked in mainland China, users had been able to access it using third-party email applications such as Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail.

 

Beijing now appears to have closed the loophole, completely shutting down access to Gmail behind the so-called Great Firewall. Google data showed Gmail appeared to have been walled off starting Friday. Google spokesman Taj Meadows acknowledged the drop in traffic and said Monday that “there’s nothing wrong on our end.”

 

 

It seems to me they're getting way ahead of themselves there - the more difficult it becomes to access Western services from China, the more it will become necessary to utilize VPN's - effectively bypassing the censorship.

[Doug]

Maybe this is why I had so much trouble with the CGI Stanley website, especially trying to log in. Also I never did get logged into CFV, and it was slow using CLL over there in China. Everything is fine here in the USA now.

[Randy W]

An editorial from the Global Times

 

Gmail glitch fuels unnecessary speculation

 

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/899197.shtml?utm_content=buffer6bc0a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

 

quote - The problems with Gmail access this time may be caused by the China side, by Google itself or a combination of the two. But Western media pointed the finger at Chinese authorities immediately, accusing them of strengthening its cyber censorship. This is far too simple a hypothesis. It should be noted that Google voluntarily quit the mainland market in 2010. The issue at heart is to what extent Google is willing to obey Chinese law, on which China's attitude is steadfast.

[Randy W]

Facebook "censors" Chinese dissidents - an editorial from the Global Times

 

Blocking FB account shows freedom of speech has limits

 

Although China differs with Western countries in its systems and is still learning how to properly deal with the behavior of dissidents, from another perspective, it shows that these dissidents do not play a constructive role in real life, no matter if they are in China or abroad. They are more likely to have conflicts with society.

It is worth having more discussions over how to deal with dissidents within China's current system. Their values can hardly change, but they can change their attitude toward China's laws.

Authorities should stick to the red line in the law. Dissidents may feel constrained and give up their illusions. The setbacks they suffer overseas may offer some lessons for those within the country.

 

[Randy W]

There are stories of increased blockage of VPN's in China - I won't be sure of what this means for me until I get back next month. Is anyone in China using ExpressVPN right now? If so, how is it working for you?

 

On another note, I haven't been able to reach my wife via Skype for 3 or 4 days now. I finally gave up and called her via the hotel phone.

[Randy W]

There are stories of increased blockage of VPN's in China - I won't be sure of what this means for me until I get back next month. Is anyone in China using ExpressVPN right now? If so, how is it working for you?

 

On another note, I haven't been able to reach my wife via Skype for 3 or 4 days now. I finally gave up and called her via the hotel phone.

 

 

False alarm - I just need to log into the hotel network first before making a call. It's just a matter of visiting a web page before making the call. Skype works fine, but just rings and says "call failed" when it is unable to connect.

[Randy W]

Not sure that there's anything new here, but this is from the New York Times

China Clamps Down Still Harder on Internet Access

For those who have already returned to China and who crave membership in an increasingly globalized world, the prospect of making do with a circumscribed Internet is dispiriting. Coupled with the unrelenting air pollution and the crackdown on political dissent, a number of Chinese said the government’s effort to block V.P.N.’s could push them over the edge.

“It’s as if we’re shutting down half our brains,” said Chin-Chin Wu, an artist who spent almost a decade in Paris and who relies on the Internet to promote her work overseas. “I think that the day that information from the outside world becomes completely inaccessible in China, a lot of people will choose to leave.”

 

They seem to be simply dismantling the outside Internet piece-by-piece, simply making it more difficult and frustrating to use, with no real logic behind what they're doing.

[Randy W]

From the SCMP

 

Restrictions on virtual private networks anger Chinese technophiles

Entrepreneurs express concern about blocks on virtual private networks

 

 

His new VPN used to be compatible with Google but last week it could only be used with a mainland-based search engine.

 

"Apart from the money I've wasted, I've had so much trouble trying to reach people when I need them," Wang said.

 

. . .

 

"We assumed the Great Firewall would never block Gmail and VPNs because foreign businesspeople needed the services. But now they're blocked," Wu said.

 

"We fear that the worst might come when they block all international servers. In that case, it will force start-up entrepreneurs to leave China." "

 

In the past year, online censorship has become tougher, with regulators shutting down more than 100 websites between April and November.

 

Shenzhen-based entrepreneur Allen Wu, 34, built a VPN server in Hong Kong where his family lives, after his American VPN stopped working.

 

"I got cold feet because of internet censorship. For two years I was so enthusiastic about investing in the Chinese IT industry. I thought then that the Great Firewall only blocked the general public, but allowed savvy internet users to access the internet freely," he said.

 

"The worst thing is that the Great Firewall is blocking opportunities for Chinese to keep up with the most advanced technologies in the world. It's a losing game."

 

 

 

I'll know after I return home this weekend whether my VPN still works. In the meantime, they've already renewed my subscription for another year. Sigh.

[DocMartin817]

I am currently using WiTopia VPN and have had no problems connecting in Wuhan.

[Randy W]

I thought this article about censorship in China was an EXCELLENT analysis of posts which had disappeared after having been first collected . . . from theguardian.com

 

The fascinating truth behind all those ‘great firewall of China’ headlines

The question then was: what was it about the “disappeared” posts that had led to them being censored? And at that point the experiment became very interesting indeed. First of all, it confirmed what other researchers had found, namely that, contrary to neoliberal fantasy, speech on the Chinese internet is remarkably free, vibrant and raucous. But this unruly discourse is watched by a veritable army (maybe as many as 250,000-strong) of censors. And what they are looking for is only certain kinds of free speech, specifically, speech that has the potential for engendering collective action – mobilising folks to do something together in the offline world.

 

“Criticisms of the government in social media (even vitriolic ones) are not censored,” King et al reported, “whereas any attempt to physically move people in ways not sanctioned by the government is censored.” And the strange thing is that “even posts that praise the government are censored if they pertain to real-world collective action events”.

 

The fact that an authoritarian regime allows vitriolic criticism of it in social media may seem paradoxical, but in fact it provides the most vivid confirmation of the subtlety of the Chinese approach to managing the net. “After all,” observes King, “the knowledge that a local leader or government bureaucrat is engendering severe criticism – perhaps because of corruption or incompetence – is valuable information. That leader can then be replaced with someone more effective at maintaining stability and the system can then be seen as responsive.” The internet, in other words, is the information system that enables the system to keep a lid on things.

 

[yanglan]

Over the years the "censorship" here has just become worse and worse. Using a VPN used to be something I did occasionally during the day, now I'm connected to one 24/7. It's easily my third biggest annoyance living here, just slightly behind the lack of food variety/quality and pollution.

Edited March 21, 2015 by yanglan (see edit history)