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Behind China's Great Firewall

Posted by timothy on from the draws-attention-to-what's-blocked dept.

DigitalDame2 writes "In light of the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing, more scrutiny is being placed on China's Web-filtering practices. In May, China's technology minister, Wan Gang, told Reuters China he would 'guarantee as much [access] as possible,' defending Web limitations as necessary to protect the country's citizens. Truly understanding this cat-and-mouse game means taking a close look at what exactly the government filters out, how the Great Firewall works, and how others have found ways around it."

12 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Firewall tech by jeffmeden · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Who's to say it's not distributed among many (possibly hundreds) of gateways. It seems a bit impractical to think that China's internet connectivity funnels through one single geographical point, much less through one physical device. That, or you were being sarcastic...

  2. Wow... by Jor-Al · · Score: 5, Insightful

    defending Web limitations as necessary to protect the country's citizens. Yes, without filtered internet, who knows what untold damage might sweep through the populace!
  3. errrmm.... by bsDaemon · · Score: 5, Insightful
    FTA:

    Even the good old U.S. of A. has restricted access in some cases. In May 2007, just a few weeks after placing restrictions on soldiers' blogs, the Department of Defense blocked access for soldiers to 13 "social networking and recreational" Web sites such as MySpace and YouTube, claiming that they took up too much bandwidth and presented operational risks. Ultimately, the ban severely limited the ability of soldiers overseas to communicate with loved ones at home, especially since the sites couldn't be accessed throughout much of Iraq and Afghanistan. I'm not sure once can draw a moral equivelancy between the Army blocking what soldiers do over Army internet connections from war-zones and the Chinese blocking internet access for regular citizens.

    Until the USA starts filtering my access to the BBC, I don't really know why they even brought that up -- its just like workplace filtering at any other job.
    1. Re:errrmm.... by bsDaemon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Is a world without myspace a world we want to live it! Yes.
  4. Re:Firewall tech by ricebowl · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I have a feeling that, with the censorship being taken mostly at the ISP level in order to avoid governmental scrutiny/sanctions, that it occurs at the ISP's servers. So rather than any one piece of hardware doing all the work there's hundreds (I presume, I have no idea how many ISPs operate inside of China, though I'd expect there to be quite a few).

  5. Silver lining... by Hankapobe · · Score: 5, Insightful
    ...these measures are put in place to protect children and other Internet users from illegal and offensive content.

    This is an illustration of the slippery slope and we all should show this to anyone who wants to censor or regulate the internet for obscene material or to "protect the children".

    As a matter of fact, here's a perfect illustration how the "think of the children" rhetoric can be and is used for oppression of a people.

    1. Re:Silver lining... by bsDaemon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You're also not used to having to look over your shoulder, wondering who is listening and what their real intentions are.

      It's like how America is still looked upon favorably in parts of Eastern Europe, like Georgia. When you've experienced REAL dictatorship, REAL secret police, and REAL oppression, then you look at things differently than does the college kid who had his feelings hurt, so he blames it on whatever boogyman is popular to blame.

      When you've spent your entire life wondering where little billy went after he said "i think mao sucked," you're going to be warry of saying those things and probably go out of your way to make sure that anyone else who heard it knows YOU didn't endorse that statement so that nothing happens to YOU.

      We may be run by a bunch of retards and jackasses, but no matter how bad we have it, we still have it a lot better than the majority of people in the world.

      Just something to think about.

    2. Re:Silver lining... by bsDaemon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I have my party card in my wallet and a number of Congressmen's cellphone numbers handy. I'm not going anywhere, citizen.

      No, that isn't a joke either. I really do.

      But the government also isn't rounding up Americans off American streets and sending them to secret prisons (if they are, they're doing a good job keeping it secret).

      They're rounding up foreigners that they get in foreign countries, who are (allegedly) in the act of doing stuff.

      FDR made up the whole "enemy combatant" thing, lest we forget. And most of the interned Japanese were citziens or legal residents. I have yet to see DHS going around picking up taxi drivers and 711 clerks on suspicion of aiding and abetting the enemy.

      I don't like Bush either, but can we please at least keep the accusations to things that he's actually done?

    3. Re:Silver lining... by Rycross · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Because the posts in question where I noticed this claimed that they were Chinese. The people I met in person were, in fact Chinese. It is not a huge logical gap to think that people defending the Chinese government are, at least in part, Chinese. Whats your point?

  6. Hell with them... by Ralph+Spoilsport · · Score: 4, Insightful
    China's technology minister, Wan Gang, told Reuters China he would "guarantee as much [access] as possible," defending Web limitations as necessary to protect the country's citizens.

    Protect them?

    PROTECT THEM???

    From WHAT??? Other than finding out what a murderous bunch of thugs run their craptastic fascist gov't?

    RS

    --
    Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
    1. Re:Hell with them... by geekoid · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Don't get outraged. everyone knows it's crap and that it's in place to protect the current government.

      They don't want people reading how all their peasants are moving to cities into sweat shops, they don't want there people to ahve a tool to use to organize rallys. The last thing they need is another tank man;which most people under 20 in China have never even heard of.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  7. Hm... by Fayn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now that I think about it, the way China is right now is strikingly similar to how view an Internet in which Net Neutrality has been soundly defeated and one can only visit approved sites. There are, of course a few differences...govm't approval vs. corporate sponsorship. But the end result of a strictly regulated Internet experience remains the same. Or I could be completely full of it.

    --
    .-.