China Against Google

Chinas Battle Against Google Heats Up
By DAN LEVIN JUNE 2, 2014

Business English Link
BEIJING The Chinese authorities appear to
have escalated their battle with Google in recent
days, rendering almost all of the companys
services largely inaccessible in the days leading
up to the 25th anniversary of the crackdown on
pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen
Square. In addition to the companys search
engines being blocked, Google products including
Gmail, Calendar and Translate have been affected.
Analysts say the unprecedented blocking of Google services is most likely related to the
governments wide-ranging efforts to stifle discussion of the bloody crackdown that
occurred in Beijing on June 3 and 4, 1989.
This is by far the biggest attack on Google thats ever taken place in China, said a co-
founder of Greatfire.org, an independent censorship-monitoring website, which published
a blog post about the problems on Monday. Probably the only thing comparable is when
the Chinese government first started blocking websites in the 1990s.
While Internet users in mainland China could reach international versions of Google
search until just a few days ago, all Google services in all countries, encrypted or not, are
now blocked in China, Greatfire.org said in the blog post. These include the Chinese-
language version based in Hong Kong, Google.hk, as well as Google.com, Google
Australia and others. Other services with no direct search function, including the
companys Picasa photo program, Maps service and Calendar application, were also
impossible to reach for most users on Monday. It is the strictest censorship ever
deployed, the blog said.
As most Internet users in China can attest, Googles services have been subject to varying
degrees of interference since 2010, when the company shut down its Internet search
service in China amid allegations of government censorship and intrusions by state-
backed hackers. The move prompted angry denunciations by the Chinese government,
but many young people responded by placing mourning wreaths at Googles headquarters
in Beijing, a testament to the companys popularity here.
Since then, the company has been directing users to an uncensored search engine in
Hong Kong.
The government has in the past denied that it interferes with Google services in China, but
many users complain that accessing Gmail is difficult and at times nearly impossible.
The co-founder of Greatfire.org, who asked to remain anonymous to prevent retaliation by
the Chinese authorities, said complaints had begun appearing on Chinese social
media last week but had been quickly erased by censors.
Sigh my Google calendar is dead again, a user on the popular Sina Weibo microblog
wrote Monday. Every year its sensitive, this year even more so. The post was swiftly
deleted.
Unlike websites of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and The New YorkTimes, which are
reliably blocked by the authorities, the recent disruption of Google services affects about 9
Chinas Battle Against Google Heats Up
By DAN LEVIN JUNE 2, 2014
Business English Link
out of 10 Chinese users, according to Greatfire.org. By allowing some access, the
Chinese government is trying to pin the blame on Google, the Greatfire co-founder said.
Whether the blockage is permanent or just a temporary measure that will ease after June
4 remains unclear. Government offices in China were closed Monday for a national
holiday, and Google could not be reached for comment.
In recent weeks, the Chinese authorities have waged a particularly
aggressive campaign against those who might seek to discuss or commemorate
the events of 1989, detaining dozens of dissidents, scholars and legal defenders. Some of
those detained are facing criminal charges, a development that rights advocates say goes
beyond previous efforts to stifle public commemoration of the crackdown. In an effort to foil
online discussion, code words for the crackdown, including 6-4-89 and May 35, have
also been blocked.
Theyre locking up everyone that they can and blocking everything they can, said Jeremy
Goldkorn, director of Danwei, a website that tracks the Chinese news media and Internet.
This is not the first time Beijing has taken aim at Google and its users in China. According
to Greatfire.org, the Chinese authorities blocked Google for 12 hours in 2012, using an
attack known as Domain Name System Poisoning, which prevents the conversion of a
domain name, like google.com, from being converted into its correlating numericalInternet
Protocol address.
But even as the Chinese government continues to fortify its complex online censorship
regimen, commonly known as the Great Firewall, software developers who support the
free flow of information have been creating ever more innovative products that allow users
to break through. Millions of people in China rely on proxy servers, virtual private networks
and other methods to skirt Internet controls, although those measures are often subject to
interference.
In March, Google began encrypting what is known as search by default in China. The
secure system permits users to conduct uncensored searches, an act the government
could prevent only by blocking direct access to Google. The authorities have now locked
that electronic door, unless Internet users have the right software to pry it open.
Now there is at least one workaround safely protected in a place censors may find hard to
reach: the cloud. The activists at Greatfire.org say they have developed an unblockable
Googlemirror website that relies on encrypted cloud computing. To take it down, the
government would have to block online systems used by numerous companies in China
a move that would very likely have significant economic repercussions.

China Against Google

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

China Against Google

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

China Against Google

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Chinas Battle Against Google Heats Up

By DAN LEVIN JUNE 2, 2014

You might also like