overgenomen van The Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 10 september 2002 (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/google-replacements)index nieuwsberichten
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Replacement of Google with Alternative Search Systems in China Benjamin Edelman The author is studying Internet filtering in countries worldwide, and current investigations focus on restrictions on web access in China. With Professor Jonathan Zittrain, the author provides a web-based system to test web filtering in China. Using this system, the author previously determined and confirmed that Google was inaccessible from at least one testing location in China; initially, in testing beginning August 29, a request for Google led to the error "host not found," consistent with requests for other inaccessible or blocked sites. However, using related methods, the author has now confirmed and documented reports that Chinese Internet access currently provides pages other than the ordinary Google home page in response to requests for google.com; such behavior is believed to have befun on September 8. The screen shots below document 6 instances of this replacement.
The author connected to the Chinese network so as to simulate network access just as experienced by ordinary users located in Beijing, China. The author prepared the screen shots shown below on the morning of September 10, 2002, and each request reflects an ordinary web browser displaying the requested URL http://www.google.com. (Note that all screen shots but the second still show that URL; the site shown in the second screen shot seems to use a redirect to change the location specified in the browser's Address Bar.)
The screen shots shown below reflect that recent Chinese requests for www.google.com have instead been replaced with other sites including Openfind, Globepage, chinaren.com, search.online.sh.cn, fm365.com, and a search system at Peking University.
Relevant news coverage includes the International Herald Tribune's China's Web Firms Gain as Google Loses, Reuters' Blocked Web Surfers in China Get Detour, and the South China Morning Post's Google Replacements Spin Web of Confusion (registration required). See also the author's Other Resources about Internet Filtering in China. The author has manually tested access to a number of other sites previously found to be inaccessible over time (and therefore thought to be blocked intentionally by Chinese network administrators). Of these many sites, only Google was found to forward requests to third-party hosts (as detailed above); no other site was found to do so. The author requests and would much value information about any other blocked sites treated similarly to Google; such information would improve the accuracy of the system for Real-Time Testing of Internet Filtering in China and would likely be of substantial further interest. The author thanks Yuen Chan (others forthcoming) who brought this issue to his attention.
Support for this project was provided by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. Last Updated: September 10, 2002 |
