Google Returns to China

knownsense writes "Wired News is reporting that Google's mysterious Chinese block is now off and users in China can now get to the search engine. Google was being redirected for a while within China and users within China were being redirected to no-name "China friendly" search engines."

Communication is the key

[rizzo]

After all, if there was communication, then taco wouldn't post stories that timothy already had.

By My Count...

[great throwdini]

When is China going to get its own topical icon?

Re:By My Count...

[ramzak2k]

if not china, its about time they had one for google.

its been suggested from April [slashdot.org] of this year and no one is listening! :)

Re:By My Count...

[kasperd]

if not china, its about time they had one for google.

Sometimes a story fits multiple topics. It doesn't look like /. is capable of handling that, so one topic has to be picked. Sometimes we do see the next episode of a story under another topic.

Re:By My Count...

[micromoog]

How about a "repeat story [slashdot.org]" icon? I recommend this cool doppelganger picture [idirect.com].

Re:By My Count...

[ahaning]

From that link:

Meaning "double walker" a doppelganger is a shadow-self that accompanies every human. Only the owner of a doppelganger can see it, otherwise it is invisible to human eyes. Dogs and cats have been known to see doppelgangers. Providing sympathetic company, a doppelganger almost always stands behind a person, and they cast no reflection in a mirror. They are prepared to listen and give advice to humans, either implanting ideas in their heads, or a sort of osmosis. It is said to be bad luck if it is seen, and rarely a doppelganger will make itself visible to friends or family, often causing great confusion. Doppelgangers can be mischievous and malicious.

So, it's not CmdrTaco's fault that he reposted this, it's his doppelganger!

Thanks, I'll be sure to blame all of my faults on my invisible shadow self from now on and people will take me completely seriously.

Re:By My Count...

[ahaning]

I'd suggest a sperm entering an egg.

Re:By My Count...

[zephc]

I know you're working for... Queen Doppelpopolous, you Doppelganger!!

Dopplepopolous... you think that's Greek?

Re:New ./

[Frank of Earth]

Hackers will need to request access to discussion forums

If you were truely a hacker, couldn't you just hack your way into the system and post messages without proper authorization?

Re:New ./

[OrangeSpyderMan]

In the current directory :-)

Re:New ./

[struppi]

Hackers will need to request access to discussion forums and those who troll, will be kicked out and banned.
Well, the freedom of speech is what I really like at /. but this also means that people might say things that you don't like or that are offtopic. For this there is the moderation system, which works pretty good. Just select a higher Threshold or ignore postings you don't like. BTW: Your post is offtopic too (and maybe even troll).

Erm...

[pete01]

ain't this old news.

Oh well.

Re:Erm...

[ackthpt]

Later the same day [slashdot.org], when it was originally posted that Google was blocked, I used the test [harvard.edu] and it was reported as accessible in China.

Maybe the wind changed direction...

whew......

[x311]

I'm glad to see that China didn't completely whack the google.

Chinese could dominate Google

[Stephen R Hall]

As I understand it, one of the ways to get a higher rating with Google is to have lots of links to your site. If the Chinese population get busy producing their own websites, the amount of cross-linkage they could do would ensure their entries coming at the top of every search. Eventually, the Chinese government wouldn't have to worry about their people finding western sites, because they'll be so far down the list that the users will get bored of going through them.

Re:Chinese could dominate Google

[Xerithane]

Aside from the fact that your post was absolutely idiotic in it's formation, you are wrong.

If you had 1 million sites that all did a high degree of cross linking (Say every 5th site links to the site 5 back) all containing randomly generated text to cover most major topics than they would get boosted very high on Google. That is what they are talking about.

Re:Chinese could dominate Google

[ramzak2k]

Google must be with it already and shouldnt have been too difficult to handle.

The query for any search that we make would be from within the english character set which would be different from that of the chinese. Have you ever tried to search on something like
xcvb [google.com] on google? You would be surprised at the results from webpages of other languages.

Now, your conclusion would be right if all of the chinese make webpages in english and start linking to it, which is not likely to happen anytime soon.

Repeat of Yesterday's China

[randomErr]

Isn't this a repeat of this story?

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/12/13 27238&mode=thread&tid=153 [slashdot.org]

Re:Repeat of Yesterday's China

[ramzak2k]

How is this a repeat ? that article has no mention of the ban on google being lifted, its about their better firewall isnt it?

Re:Repeat of Yesterday's China

[Arimus]

Their better firewall would have nothing to do with their decision would it - like now we've got a better f/wall we can let the great unwashed view the search engine 'cause we know they can't get to the links on (including google's cache) results pages if we don't want them to...

Re:Repeat of Yesterday's China

[ramzak2k]

ofcourse,that does appear to be the most logical reason but was wondering how this news becomes a repost. They could have after all had a better firewall and the ban ?

Re:Repeat of Yesterday's China

[Arimus]

I'd imagine someone probably noticed that banning google lead to people not being able to find articles the leaders thought suitable... IE Pro-China sites...

Or the minister for security got shot when the boss couldn't find his daily fix of porn ;>

Re:Repeat of Yesterday's China

[randomErr]

Well, follow my logic here. We already knew that the ban was lifted BECAUSE they were allowing it through that wonderful firewall.

We already knew that China's access to Google was restored by this [slashdot.org] article from yesterday.

So really today's story is the same story, just a very slightly different angle.

Wow, this is something new :)

[jukal]

Web users surprised as Google goes back online [hrichina.org]
China's ban on Google Web search engine lifted [dfn.org]
Chinese government backs down on Google [guardian.co.uk]
China ends Google block [ananova.com]
China lifts Google restrictions [cw360.com]
Wall comes down around Google in China [zdnet.co.uk]
Google back online in China [bbc.co.uk]
...this might be 4.2% of the stories :)

Anyway, I assume they lifted the ban just until they have had time to develop the system so that it is a bit harder to go around it. We might see the blockings again within a few weeks.

Re:Wow, this is something new :)

[Dirtside]

I bet you found all those by searching on Google, didn't you?

Repeat?

[Hitokage_Nishino]

Enough with the repeats... do you really think that we don't have the memorHEY cool google's not blocked in china anymore!

China Drops Google Block, Instead Blocks Taco's /.

[spike666]

maybe china is now blocking taco's ability to read /.

putting it together

[ramzak2k]

So does their Greater Firewall [slashdot.org] have something to do with this?

Someone might have just thought, "well we have a superior system that blocks specific portions of websites based on filters now, lift that ban on those search engines!"

Google Weblog

[semaj]

There's more Google news posted on the Google Weblog [blogspace.com], if anyone's interested.

Plus, they don't seem to repeat stories :-)

Huh?

[windex]

Well, that's nice, but.. This still says it's not accessible [harvard.edu]. So, which is it, folks?

$2 Crack shows its effects...

[cscx]

Starting testing...
Stage one testing complete.
Stage two testing complete.

Testing complete for http://www.google.com. Result:
Reported as accessible in China

Re:$2 Crack shows its effects...

[Sc00ter]

Starting testing...
Stage one testing complete.
Stage two testing complete.

Testing complete for http://www.google.com. Result:
Reported as inaccessible in China

Re:Huh?

[WolfDeusEx]

It is accessible. The test is broken as it turns the // into %3A%2F%2F which means it fails

If you don't include the http:// then it works

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/tes t/ go.asp?URL=www.google.com

Re:Huh?

[FooBarWidget]

I included the http:// and it works.

Starting testing...
Stage one testing complete.
Stage two testing complete.

Testing complete for http://www.google.com. Result:
Reported as accessible in China

Re:Huh?

[FooBarWidget]

And when I click reload a few times I get Reported as inaccessible in China. This is hilarious.

Re:There's a new excuse...

[randomErr]

What you mean Socalists?

You would think that the internet was service the entire world is paying for like... Oh my God, he's right.

NONONONONONONONONONONONONONO!!!!!!

the bbc reports that /. is banned in China

[realkiwi]

Saw the /. home page on a special bbc "click online" from Shanghai just last night.

Why would a country ban /.? Then again...

ObNixon

[Rupert]

"Only Google could go to China"

Since most of Slashdot is under 28 I suspect I'm going to be modded down as offtopic. Hopefully the three of you who are over thirty will see this post before it hits -1 so hard it bounces.

Re:ObNixon

[Maran]

You forget, that (original) quote was used in Star Trek VI, so all the resident Trekkers will recognise it, although they'd prefer to attribute it to the Vulcans.

Maran

Re:ObNixon

[great throwdini]

You forget, that (original) quote was used in Star Trek VI, so all the resident Trekkers will recognise it[.]

The OP also forgets that the quotation was also present in the Oliver Stone flick "Nixon", so all the resident conspiracy theorists will...

Wait a minute, I just realized... It all makes sense now! Where's my tinfoil hat?

Re:ObNixon

[/dev/trash]

Well damn that leaves us 29 year olds in some sort of limbo.

Limbo

[Rupert]

That's kind of how I felt when I was 29.

Re:ObNixon

[laserjet]

You forgot about the rule that states something like if you say "I know I will be modded down to eternity for this, but..." you will actually get modded up.

It's reverse slashology.

Re:ObNixon

[fajoli]

These little gems that make a person go back to look at the history are one of the reasons I read slashdot at all.

Re:ObNixon

[cardshark2001]

Yeah, only nixon could go to china because he'd have been the first to call anyone else who did a commie pinko.

Yes, I know RFK was also a McCarthy-ist.

Re:ObNixon (even more OT)

[Rupert]

Very true.

A thought just hit me

"Only Ventura could go to Cuba"

or

"Only Jesse would lead a trade delegation to a country he's forbidden to trade with"?

Slashdot members over 60!

[rapidweather]

Ok, so I'm the only one over 60. Just don't slip down on the rolling stone magazines on your way out. Wooophs! Not the one with Jennifer Aniston on the Cover! Jeeez!
Quick, sign up now and influence content on her official site:
http://www.jenniferaniston.com/

Reminds me of a Simpson's episode...

[McCow]

Net goes up! Net goes down!

I can just imagine a bureaucrat giggling (or laughing manically) while pushing a big red button labeled"Google access" repeatedly. "This should screw /.! hahaha"

Maybe it's a campaign to drive geeks crazy?

Re:Reminds me of a Simpson's episode...

[compwiz3688]

It's a campaign to /. sites that cover the news of the great firewall of China.

Too bad only the powerful servers have the news.

chinesse citizens can't access quality sites...

[Alejo]

...like milf [milf.com] or Bang Bus [bangbus.com].

They are missing what new technologies can give a modern civilized society.

It seems to be just general web blocking problems

[stagmeister]

I don't see what's so big about this -- it seems that for one reason or another, china's web censoring/blocking/filtering programs have a bug in it (like most web censoring/blocking/filtering programs) that lets people get in to Google if they do it a certain way. I don't think that it means that China is going to make a general change in their policy to allow people to visit Google... they'll probably just fix up whatever bug is letting people get to Google and then we'll be right back where we started.

chinasucks.com

[42forty-two42]

Starting testing...
Stage one testing complete.
Stage two testing complete.

Testing complete for http://www.chinasucks.com. Result:
Reported as accessible in China

Here I go again...

[mtrupe]

Oh great, I already spent all my energy arguing about communism and oppression yesterday, and now I have to do it again!

CNN Article

[leibnizme]

CNN's article has a more comprehensive version of the AP report:

CNN Article [cnn.com]

Bad link

[Mark_Uplanguage]

The link to the wired news story took me to a story titled "Porn Biz Offers to Buy Napster"?!?

Re:Bad link

[Squidgee]

Uhm...look below it. The google story is there. *sigh*

China Friendly?

[Ugarte]

I'd love to get the URL of the china-friendly search engine...

SortOf MaybeAlmost NOT COMPLETELY

[oldstrat]

.
According to this news story at New Scientist [newscientist.com]

Entering certain keywords into google is knocking out all internet activity for 5 minutes for chinese users.

I wonder if google were using https, if it would happen. Looks like the state is 'inspecting' for 'dangerous' thoughts.

Reasonable explanation

[Mulletproof]

Really! China wasn't trying to crush free speech, nor were they feeling the worlds glare upon their backs after blocking google... No, there's a perfectly rational explanation for the humanitarian people's republic... Um.. Uh... Maintanance, right? No? Err... Common, guys, help me out here... One thing I always get a kcik out of its the people who defend China... It brightens my day considerably to know their are still gullible, brainwashed people out there ^__^

Internet Filtering in China

[timlee]

In case you're interested, I found this a few days ago. Since there is no definitive list of banned sites in China, our friends at Harvard Law have decided to come up with a way you can test [harvard.edu] to see if your website (or any other for that matter) is blocked in China.

Re:Internet Filtering in China

[Asia-Business]

Not sure how accurate it is. A reader of my blog (http://blogs.salon.com/0001319) in Beijing told me google was accessible when the Harvard Law site claimed it wasn't.