Saturday, October 20, 2007

Chinese Blocks on Blogspot Gone?

I've started getting hits from China again in the last week or two. Does this mean that the blocks on blogspot in China are gone? I know that some Chinese bloggers had used proxy sites to get around the blocks. But I've had several know that came directly from China. This would be a very welcome change.


[It's late and I posted the above without even trying to see if there was anything official. And there is some confirmation:

China Blocks YouTube, Restores Flickr and Blogspot

China's Web viewers can no longer access YouTube, but Blogspot.com and Flickr photos are now available.

Steven Schwankert, IDG News Service

Thursday, October 18, 2007 8:00 AM PDT

China watchers, get your scorecards out: Google Inc.'s YouTube is blocked, Wikipedia is still blocked, but, for the moment, Google blog site Blogspot.com is available and some pictures from Yahoo Inc.'s Flickr photos can once again be viewed.

China-based users accessing YouTube since Wednesday afternoon began receiving the dreaded "The server at www.youtube.com is taking too long to respond," the typical response when a user attempts to view a site that has been blocked.

Google's blog site, Blogspot, is currently available after being blocked in June. An unblocking of the site last year led to the availability of a Shanghai-based foreign blogger known as Chinabounder, whose blog recounted the author's sexual exploits with Chinese women while working as an English teacher. The posts ultimately led to an unsuccessful hunt for the author and a temporary closing of the blog. Google did not respond to a request for comment on YouTube's block and Blogspot's availability.

For the rest, go to PC World.]

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