strict Internet controls, known as the Great Firewall, for several
hours this morning, allowing them brief access to banned websites such
as
Cautious excitement spread on some social-networking
platforms as hope flared that Internet freedoms suddenly were being
expanded after months of intensifying scrutiny.
“It’s finally unblocked, reasons unknown,” wrote a
blogger named EFanZh. “I hope nothing gets blocked anymore. I can’t
take it any longer.”
But by the time many woke up, strict restrictions
had returned. Error messages once again flashed across computer screens
for sites blocked by the nation’s censorship filter.
“It seemed just like a dream,” said Michael Anti, a
social critic and one of hundreds who tweeted about the development on
Twitter.
Rumors abounded that the outage was due to maintenance work administered by Internet provider
respond to requests for an interview, neither did Chinese officials
overseeing online security. It was unclear if all of
blocked since July, said banned sites are periodically accessible from
location to location, such as a university. But rarely do so many
high-profile sites suddenly become available, he said.
For many, the relaxing of controls would seem an
unlikely development at a time when Chinese authorities have been
ramping up censorship of the Web.
Primary in this push is a crackdown on pornography
that has been gaining momentum for months. But critics claim that
effort is just a cover for tightening controls on the world’s largest
Internet community.
Authorities announced last week that 5,400 people
were arrested last year for crimes related to online porn, though they
did not say how many were charged.
Hundreds of websites have been shut down, including
file-sharing destinations for pirated movies and music, as well as
personal blogs.
One government ministry released a pronouncement
last month that local press interpreted to mean that foreign websites
may one day have to register with the government before being allowed
inside the Great Firewall.
As part of a new decree to screen out smut, individuals have been banned from registering personal websites using
In
restive Xinjiang province, Internet access has been blocked since July
when deadly ethnic riots erupted in the capital of Urumqi. Residents in
the region can only access two sites now, both run by state media.
However, the most sweeping controls last year, a
government plan to install all computers with filtering software called
the Green Dam Youth Escort, was shelved indefinitely in response to
widespread criticism.
“The government isn’t showing any signs of giving up on censorship,” said
Herdict.org, a censorship-tracking website run by the Berkman Center, reported 1,466 blocked websites in
The Internet in
is already one of the world’s most heavily policed. Government agents
troll online forums for information and pose as ordinary users to sway
opinion.
Although the government can’t fully stamp out
undesired sites, experts say the goal is to make access to politically
sensitive pages inconvenient enough to null any meaningful influence.
That has largely meant using the firewall to filter out sensitive topics such as the
Western social-networking sites have been stymied as officials fear they’ll galvanize groups that could disrupt social order.
It’s unclear what sort of effect the firewall’s outage had this morning, believed to be
Most of the commentary online was found on Twitter, whose users
generally know how to scale the firewall using proxy servers. They are
not representative of the mainstream Chinese online community, whom
censors are most concerned with.
for an IT website, said he became aware of the outage late at night
when he saw the spike in activity on Twitter. He tested it himself and
was surprised to see the firewall down for blocked sites such as
Blogger and Picasa. Though he enjoyed the jaunt, he was ultimately too
pessimistic to believe the sudden brush with freedom would last.
He said “there’s no way” sensitive sites would be allowed in
“But within these few hours, there were a few bricks
missing from the Great Firewall, and we were able to see the outside
world through these holes.”
—
(c) 2010, Los Angeles Times.
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