August 6, 2008 10:22 AM
Is Your Website Censored in China?
A few weeks ago, the Rocky's Olympics blog was the first to tell you that the fine Fire Joe Morgan blog was blocked here in China. Soon, others were writing in to ask if their websites were blocked too.Here's a way to see if your favorite website mysteriously "times out" over here: check out this site, which will do a quick search and tell you if your site is working in China or not.
Meanwhile, some sites are working proactively to stay ahead of the censors. Take the fine China Law Blog, for example. They wanted to comment yesterday on an article about John McCain's views on China. But fearing an all-out block from the censors, they've had to -- wait a moment as I search for the right word here -- "adjust" a few of the words in their post. Here's what the self-censored version looks like:
In an interview with The Washington Post at his Arlington headquarters, the prospective Republican presidential nominee advocated a cautious course for Bush, despite U.S. unhappiness with the Chinese crackdown on T1b*t, complaints of harsh repression of domestic d1ssidents and strained relations stemming from last week's breakdown of global trade talks in Geneva.
McCain, who harshly condemned Russian behavior in the same interview, said some of China's actions are "also regrettable, but I don't think China is regressing the way that Russia is. We have a greater opportunity to work in a cooperative way with China."
Saying he does not contemplate "a return to the Cold War" or a military confrontation with either country, McCain said he hopes Bush will tell the Chinese leadership that "we understand, as the D*lai L*ma does, that T1b*t is part of China but we hope T1b*tans are not repressed or oppressed." McCain met recently with the D*lai L*ma in Colorado.
Bush has been under pressure from some Republicans and many Democrats to make public statements while in China aligning the United States with the cause of hum*n rights in both China and Tibet. He met with five Chinese d1ssidents in the White House last week, a step that Chinese authorities condemned, but he has resisted urgings that he b*ycott the opening ceremonies to show displeasure with the controversial actions of the government.
A list of many of the words that can get a website blocked in China is available here.
August 7, 2008
6:38 AM
Dan writes:
Thanks for the use of the word "fine" in describing our blog.
I am not sure I like the word "self-censoring" to describe what we do to avoid the GFW. I say that because our changes do not influence the substance and, if anything, serve to highlight how China blocks what it does not like.
The reality, however, is that we made the decision a long time ago, that we did NOT want to be blocked in China because we believe that would not serve any purpose. A number of Chinese law professors and students have told us that they regularly read our blog and we think we do a helluva lot more good by continuing to reach them than by making some sort of protest that would cut us off.
August 7, 2008
7:42 AM
ChinaGuy writes:
Can you please give us the link for China Law Blog? Better yet, why don't you put it in the post?