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Google Returns to China

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the cracks-in-the-great-firewall dept.

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."

91 comments

  1. Communication is the key by rizzo · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    --

    "More organs means more human." - Zim

  2. By My Count... by great+throwdini · · Score: 2, Funny

    When is China going to get its own topical icon?

    1. Re:By My Count... by ramzak2k · · Score: 1

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

      its been suggested from April of this year and no one is listening! :)

      --

      Siggy Say, Siggy Do
    2. Re:By My Count... by micromoog · · Score: 4, Funny

      How about a "repeat story" icon? I recommend this cool doppelganger picture.

    3. Re:By My Count... by ahaning · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      Withdrawal before climax is very ineffective and those who try this are usually called "parents."
    4. Re:By My Count... by ahaning · · Score: 1

      I'd suggest a sperm entering an egg.

      --
      Withdrawal before climax is very ineffective and those who try this are usually called "parents."
    5. Re:By My Count... by zephc · · Score: 2

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

      Dopplepopolous... you think that's Greek?

      --
      "I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
    6. Re:By My Count... by kasperd · · Score: 2

      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.

      --

      Do you care about the security of your wireless mouse?
  3. Erm... by pete01 · · Score: 1

    ain't this old news.

    Oh well.

    1. Re:Erm... by ackthpt · · Score: 2
      Later the same day, when it was originally posted that Google was blocked, I used the test and it was reported as accessible in China.

      Maybe the wind changed direction...

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  4. whew...... by x311 · · Score: 1

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

    --
    Give it a look
  5. Chinese could dominate Google by Stephen+R+Hall · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:Chinese could dominate Google by stud9920 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      And tell me how often you link your pages to Chinese pages (which make THEM appear on top of search results)? And tell me how often they link to your english speaking pages ?

      I really don't see how the relevancy of a page would rise / fall if the Chinese link/don't link to it.

      So when they look up 'civilized' language words, they will reach 'civilized' pages, when they look up 'chink' words, they will get on 'chink' pages. If the japanese make a billion (macroscopic number) different pages saying :"Slashdot yatta ! Ashgala woundefou ! Hyakugoyjuichi Pokemon !", it will just make slashdot's rank higher. So when you lookup 'slashdot', it will just make a high hit on slashdot, but this will NOT 'polute' the results. You would only find the 'poluted' results if you explicitly search for them, ie make a search on 'Slashdot yatta ! Ashgala woundefou ! Hyakugoyjuichi Pokemon !'.

      What I mean is that you get a higher rating when many people link to you, but to see the 'link pollution' you have to ask explicitly for it.

    2. Re:Chinese could dominate Google by ramzak2k · · Score: 1

      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 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.

      --

      Siggy Say, Siggy Do
    3. Re:Chinese could dominate Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even if the Chinese make a lot of web sites, they would theoretically make a larger number of links to higher quality sites, regardless of whether the sites being linked to were Chinese or Western. Just because a site was made in China doesn't mean it would preferentially link to other Chinese sites, unless it was a Chinese launguage site, in which case it probably wouldn't show up in an English launguage search anyway.

      Also, there's a difference between not finding a site because you can't be bothered to scroll down the page far enough and not finding a site because your government is blocking it from you.

    4. Re:Chinese could dominate Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then just tick English as the only language you`re interested in getting hits in. Although Googles help advises against it, I can't possibly think why - I only want hits in English, so what's the problem?

    5. Re:Chinese could dominate Google by Xerithane · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
  6. Repeat of Yesterday's China by randomErr · · Score: 2

    Isn't this a repeat of this story?

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

    --
    You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
    1. Re:Repeat of Yesterday's China by ramzak2k · · Score: 1

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

      --

      Siggy Say, Siggy Do
    2. Re:Repeat of Yesterday's China by Arimus · · Score: 1

      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...

      --
      --- Users are like bacteria -> Each one causing a thousand tiny crises until the host finally gives up and dies.
    3. Re:Repeat of Yesterday's China by ramzak2k · · Score: 1

      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 ?

      --

      Siggy Say, Siggy Do
    4. Re:Repeat of Yesterday's China by Arimus · · Score: 1

      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 ;>

      --
      --- Users are like bacteria -> Each one causing a thousand tiny crises until the host finally gives up and dies.
    5. Re:Repeat of Yesterday's China by randomErr · · Score: 2

      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 article from yesterday.

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

      --
      You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
  7. Wow, this is something new :) by jukal · · Score: 3, Informative
    Web users surprised as Google goes back online
    China's ban on Google Web search engine lifted
    Chinese government backs down on Google
    China ends Google block
    China lifts Google restrictions
    Wall comes down around Google in China
    Google back online in China
    ...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.

    1. Re:Wow, this is something new :) by Dirtside · · Score: 2

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

      --
      "Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
  8. Repeat? by Hitokage_Nishino · · Score: 4, Funny

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

  9. putting it together by ramzak2k · · Score: 1

    So does their Greater Firewall 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!"

    --

    Siggy Say, Siggy Do
  10. Re:New ./ by Frank+of+Earth · · Score: 2

    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?

    --
    Live web cams
  11. Google Weblog by semaj · · Score: 3, Informative

    There's more Google news posted on the Google Weblog, if anyone's interested.

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

    --
    Meep meep
  12. Huh? by windex · · Score: 2

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

    1. Re:Huh? by WolfDeusEx · · Score: 1

      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

      --
      Shoot me
    2. Re:Huh? by FooBarWidget · · Score: 2

      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

    3. Re:Huh? by FooBarWidget · · Score: 2

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

  13. Uh by JeffSh · · Score: 0

    The link goes to a story about the porn business buying the Napster trademark.

    Wired must have swapped referrers for this article I guess... :)

  14. hum.. by mbennis · · Score: 0

    sorry, but the results of a search are distributed on several pages and you can go directly to the last page of your search results.

  15. *MOD PARENT UP* now! It's interesting.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is interesting! I've been waiting for something like this..

  16. Re:New ./ by struppi · · Score: 1

    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).

  17. Re:New ./ by OrangeSpyderMan · · Score: 1

    In the current directory :-)

    --
    Try NetBSD... safe,straightforward,useful.
  18. There's a new excuse... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...blame Socialists for web outages...

    1. Re:There's a new excuse... by randomErr · · Score: 2

      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!!!!!!

      --
      You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
  19. $2 Crack shows its effects... by cscx · · Score: 2

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

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

    1. Re:$2 Crack shows its effects... by Sc00ter · · Score: 2
      Starting testing...
      Stage one testing complete.
      Stage two testing complete.

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

      --
      Free Mac Mini
  20. the bbc reports that /. is banned in China by realkiwi · · Score: 1

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

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

    --
    realkiwi
  21. ObNixon by Rupert · · Score: 4, Funny

    "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.

    --

    --
    E_NOSIG
    1. Re:ObNixon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Only Nixon could go to China, but only Google could return to China."

    2. Re:ObNixon by Maran · · Score: 2

      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

    3. Re:ObNixon by great+throwdini · · Score: 1

      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?

    4. Re:ObNixon by /dev/trash · · Score: 1

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

    5. Re:ObNixon by laserjet · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      Moon Macrosystems. Sun's biggest competitor.
    6. Re:ObNixon by fajoli · · Score: 2

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

    7. Re:ObNixon by cardshark2001 · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      WWJD? JWRTFA!
  22. Reminds me of a Simpson's episode... by McCow · · Score: 3, Funny

    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?

    1. Re:Reminds me of a Simpson's episode... by compwiz3688 · · Score: 1

      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.

  23. Re:New ./ by chocolatei · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Well, dotslash.com is a webpage of sorts... and it is named by owlriver.com and herrold.com. I don't know.

  24. Stealing secrets again by mustangdavis · · Score: 0, Troll

    Now the Chineese can resume their search of top secret American documents to steal!

    --
    HallmarkOrnaments.Com
  25. chinesse citizens can't access quality sites... by Alejo · · Score: 1
    ...like milf or Bang Bus.

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

  26. It seems to be just general web blocking problems by stagmeister · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

    --
    http://www.virtualvillagesquare.com/ Online Communities: The Next Generation
  27. chinasucks.com by 42forty-two42 · · Score: 1

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

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

  28. Here I go again... by mtrupe · · Score: 1

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

    --
    [FromTheMorning]
  29. Re:wow.. by mtrupe · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Hey, you may have gotten modded down, but I am laughing my ars off!!!

    --
    [FromTheMorning]
  30. LOL! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That was a good one :) too bad these moderators don't have any sense of humor. Beowulf jokes are geek humor at it's best!

  31. CNN Article by leibnizme · · Score: 2, Informative

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

    CNN Article

  32. Limbo by Rupert · · Score: 1

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

    --

    --
    E_NOSIG
  33. China Drops Google Block, Instead Blocks Taco's /. by spike666 · · Score: 2

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

  34. Re:New /. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thank you for your interest. Are you satisfied with Slashdot? I thought so.. We have a voting system. Five votes from a Guru level mentors are needed to ban a person. It is all well thought, don't worry..

  35. Bad link by Mark_Uplanguage · · Score: 1

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

    --
    "The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." -- Albert Einstein
    1. Re:Bad link by Squidgee · · Score: 1

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

  36. Nope - access is limited by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google is now accesible - but if you try to go for certain keywords, the ISP drops your connection for five minutes. See New Scientist story.

  37. Poor guys by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

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

    hehe

  38. Re:ObNixon (even more OT) by Rupert · · Score: 1

    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"?

    --

    --
    E_NOSIG
  39. Why not attack China's internet censorship/blockin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why don't l33t hax0rs and skript kiddies waste their time attacking China's internet censorship and website blocking instead of attacking Dept. of Defense website?

    Not only will they get their daily high from the hacking but they will also annoy people that definitely need to be annoyed big time. We're talking about annoying a group of about 100 fat-cat Commie old-farts who think they can speak for a population of 1.1 billion.

    The more the Chinese Commies are annoyed, the funnier it will be.

  40. China Friendly? by Ugarte · · Score: 1

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

  41. Re:Gookle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hehe...

    That's supposed to be funny? Get a life, moron.

  42. SortOf MaybeAlmost NOT COMPLETELY by oldstrat · · Score: 4, Interesting

    .
    According to this news story at New Scientist

    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.

  43. Re:Why not attack China's internet censorship/bloc by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Err, a great number of the Evil Dictator governments in the world are US puppets, ultimately backed by the CIA with military support where necessary. So, if you are truly concerned about freedom, irritating the DoD would be just as worthy as irritating the Chinese censors. Of course, the challenge of irritating your own government is greater, because of the increased risk of retaliation.

  44. Slashdot members over 60! by rapidweather · · Score: 1

    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/

    --
    Rapidweather's Linux Screenshots.
  45. Reasonable explanation by Mulletproof · · Score: 2

    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 ^__^

    --
    You need a FREE iPod Nano
  46. Internet Filtering in China by timlee · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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 to see if your website (or any other for that matter) is blocked in China.

    1. Re:Internet Filtering in China by Asia-Business · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      Rich / Asia Business Intelligence / Commentary on Asian Events, with a Focus on China / http://blogs.salon.com/0001319