Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

China Now Blocking RSS Feeds

Posted by Zonk on from the keeping-things-simple dept.

Phurge passed us an Ars Technica link covering China's newest internet-based crackdown: RSS feeds. Real Simple Syndication has apparently been a fairly foolproof way to get around Chinese government censors in recent years. As long ago as August, though, access to feeds has been curtailed by the Great Firewall. "More recent reports tell us that the PSB appears to have extended this block to all incoming URLs that begin with 'feeds,' 'rss,' and 'blog,' thus rendering the RSS feeds from many sites — including ones that aren't blocked in China, such as Ars Technica — useless ... there are a few workarounds, some of which may be simpler than others. Some of our readers in China tell us that web-based feed aggregators, such as NewsGator Online, (sort of) help provide access to RSS feeds. One reader says that if he has the aggregator set to display the full post (or however much of the post is made available) and clicks through to read more, everything is just fine."

15 of 73 comments (clear)

  1. If it is just the heading that gets blocked. by IndustrialComplex · · Score: 4, Funny

    Change RSS to LSS and we'll call it even.

    --
    Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
  2. The ironic thing by Enlarged+to+Show+Tex · · Score: 3, Insightful

    All China really has to do in order to control information flow nationwide is to deregulate the media and force them to compete vigorously against one another. They'll be so cost-pressured that they can't really do any journalism; instead, they'll end up so short-staffed that all they can do is publish the stuff that the government wants them to publish.

    Barring that, the internet will simply detect the censorship and route around it, just like it always does...

    1. Re:The ironic thing by TheVelvetFlamebait · · Score: 2, Insightful

      All China really has to do in order to control information flow nationwide is to deregulate the media and force them to compete vigorously against one another. They'll be so cost-pressured that they can't really do any journalism; instead, they'll end up so short-staffed that all they can do is publish the stuff that the government wants them to publish.
      I think that's just a little too ironic to be true. Can you give us a case study? I would have thought that deregulation would just open up a flood of negative press, true or not. And besides, there are always crackpots who'll do some investigative journalism.

      Nope, if you want to censor the media, the iron fist has to come in somewhere.
      --
      You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
  3. wow by thegnu · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can't help thinking that those girls must be getting underpaid.

    --
    Please stop stalking me, bro.
  4. block all incoming URLs that begin with 'blog'... by Sam+H · · Score: 5, Funny

    By far the best evidence of a civilised country. Ever.

    --
    God, root, what is difference ?
  5. Re:why not use http? by brunascle · · Score: 2, Informative

    i think they meant the hostname or path part of the URL, not the protocol (as "blog" isnt a protocol, is it?).

  6. Workarounds are illegal in China... by Yahma · · Score: 2, Insightful

    While its interesting to find a workaround to the great firewall of China, one has to remember that it is illegal for a Chinese citizen to violate the Firewall. Furthermore, if you, as a foreigner are visiting China, it is just as illegal for you to bypass the Chinese Firewall.. If the authorities find out, you will likely face severe penalties. You have to ask yourself, is it worth it to read Slashdot or Ars RSS feeds, while you are on vacation in China? Perhaps you should wait till you get back, so you dont find yourself rotting away in a Chinese Prison.

    1. Re:Workarounds are illegal in China... by gzipped_tar · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Illlllegal? As far as I know there's no law banning me from SSHing some remote host not explicitly blacklisted by the Chinese Gov't (i'm Chinese). And we don't even know who we are against. We don't know who operate and are responsible for the GFW. No*body*. The GFW is a more a cult, or humor, or both, than someting substantial for me, but it is _really_ there. The GFW works just like the Babylonian Lottery of Jorge L. Borges (at least for me). Errrr, am I offtoopic?

      --
      Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
    2. Re:Workarounds are illegal in China... by fbjon · · Score: 3, Funny

      Illlllegal? Sans-serif must die.
      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
    3. Re:Workarounds are illegal in China... by gzipped_tar · · Score: 2, Informative

      Thank you for the info but...
      unfortunately we are not able to read Wikipedia now in China without the 'workarounds'. It has been blocked by the Firewall. Btw, we hear rumors that the Chinese government is running proxy servers outside China in order to find out who (or at least, how many people) are using proxy servers as a Firewall workaround.
      As far as I know there hasn't been any lawsuit against the Firewall's operators. So, if I own a site and I lost 1 million Renminbi because of the Firewall's behavior, that's the Babylonian lottery..... ha.

      --
      Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
  7. Why does China do this? by cryfreedomlove · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I thought Socialism was about the ideal of giving power to the people rather than an elite oligarchy. What the hell happened? Censorship usually comes from an insecure and weak oligarchy desperate to maintain privilege.

  8. There is no future for China if they keep this up by GnarlyDoug · · Score: 5, Interesting
    China is heading toward becoming a living example of a Reductio ad Absurdum. The internet is now the critical infrastructure over which information flows. To use Marxist terms, it is becoming critical to defining the Mode of Production for a society. It is becoming powerful for social relations, organization and management, and education among other elements. Their own philosophy tells them why thier own actions will cripple thier development.

    China will have to choose between having the internet and being a world power using the tools of the 21st century, or becoming isolated from the rest of the world on all levels. The internet is becoming the primary infrastructure for a new future. The idea of becoming or staying economicaly and politically viable without it is naive and foolish. It would be like trying to become a economic and military power in the 20th century without an industrial base to build anything.

  9. Re:why not use http? by mini+me · · Score: 3, Informative

    Safari uses the feed:// "protocol" for RSS/Atom feeds, even though it's still really just HTTP under the hood. It allows you to enter, for example, feed://slashdot.org and it will automatically find the appropriate feed for the site instead of having to type: http://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdot.

  10. Ever wonder... by kemushi88 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...if there are people in other countries talking about the "great US firewall" that we aren't even aware of?

    1. Re:Ever wonder... by cryfreedomlove · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, I don't. Creating such a thing would require a large effort involving the collusion of thousands of people. Given that broad set of implementors, and the US traditions of freedom of the press, something like you describe would be impossible to keep secret. I don't doubt that there are probably several neo-fascist law makers in the US that would advocate for this. However, given what I have laid out, they would have to do it in the open rather than in secret.