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Sourceforge.net Blocked In Mainland China

Posted by timothy on

gzipped_tar contributed a link to Moonlight Blog, which says that "SourceForge, the world's largest development and download repository of Open Source code and applications, appears to be blocked in Mainland China. The current blocking may be related to the recent anti-China protests of Beijing Olympic Games, which will begin on 8 August. Some days before, a very popular free source code editor in SourceForge named Notepad++ start to boycott Beijing 2008. The project's developer said that the action is not against Chinese people, but against Chinese government's repression against Tibetan unrest earlier in this year. SF.net has once been banned by China in 2002. However, the ban was lifted later in 2003." gzipped_tar adds: "As a SourceForge user in Beijing, I can confirm this first-hand. I also tried traceroute to sourceforge.net, only to find the connection being dropped at a Beijing ISP's gateway router. It appears that the projects' respective homepages are available even if they are hosted by SF, but the summary and download pages are blocked." (As you probably know, Slashdot and Sourceforge share a corporate overlord.)

6 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Wait for it... by Darkness404 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    But don't forget that Europe and the US come in Bronze and Silver medals.

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  2. Correct me if I'm wrong... by pwnies · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Correct me if I'm wrong... but doesn't open source software share some of the same essence as Communism? Everyone working together towards a common goal overseen by a dictator (or Benevolent Dictator for Life in the case of OSS).

    Seems to me that China is shooting its own values in the foot.

  3. Re:Why would we care? by Skinkie · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Who is "we"? If "we" is the Slashdot readership, then clearly some of "us" care, since some portion of Slashdot readers are in China, and/or use/contribute to Sourceforge. We are the users that don't have governments that limits this particular use of encryption technology or information exchange.

    I'm sorry if I've misinterpreted this question, but on the face of it, it seems racist. It is funny how factual difference in culture and expectation always be banned with racism. That sounds like FUD. Please inform yourself by reading at least 10+ mailinglist every day and the questions asked by our 'fellow' open source 'users' particularly coming from the east. It isn't difficult to recognize Chinese letters (the funny characters), or an Indian/Pakistan name. Western individuals usually ask 'smart' questions, now sadly, the amount of 'smart' questions I saw coming from Asia in these years can I count on one hand. I receive every day around 150 emails worth of mailinglist mail. Now that becomes statistically relevant over the years. So don't flame me because I comment something that more people see.

    "Chinese projects"? You do realize that Chinese people use the same kinds of software as everyone else, right? And that Chinese coders can (and do) contribute to the same open-source projects as everyone else, right? I'm talking about Chinese founded projects. Open Source that it. For @$@($&*@ I'm even the author of the SpeakGoodChinese project, why am I defending myself?! (The amount of volunteers living in China to that project was 0, zero, NULL... and not because we didn't ask!)

    ... but why should the open-source community be happy that a government firewall is fracturing the community? I cannot be bothered anymore by patent issues from the USA or the great firewall in China. If someone doesn't like it, please get your migration card or vote for another president... Time is better spend in coding something useful. If the government things that I cannot access my favorite site anymore *HELL YES* I would move.
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  4. Re:how can a text editor boycott the olympics? by Renderer+of+Evil · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Actors are responsible for own words and actions. As an open source developer you effectively solicit help from the community and that should give you a pause on types of things that you are trying to promote. I feel uneasy with things which are used as vectors to spread an agenda, regardless of what brand of ideology is being promoted.

    I just don't feel it's fair to the community to be engaged in irrelevant political controversies because some lead developer decided to air his controversial opinions through questionable means. As it stands right now, entire sourceforge is being punished because of actions of some idiot who decided to tie his political grievances into a notepad application that has fuckall to do with Tibet. You want a dialogue? Start a private blog or go harass Olympic torch-bearers. Keep that crap out of SF.

  5. Not Enough by clampolo · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I wish the US would just completely firewall China out. No useful email or websites come from there. The only things that ever come across the internet from China are spam, worms, viruses, and malware.

  6. Pot Kettle Black by Chicken_Kickers · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Free Tibet? Give me a break. Free Hawaii first before you shout for Free Tibet. Read up on how Hawaii was annexed by the US, how the language and culture of the polynesian inhabitants were eradicated, suppressed or bastardized. Read up how immigrants outnumber the natives and how the natives were pushed out of their ancestral lands. Does all this sounds familiar?