The word ‘censorship’ often conjures up images of authority figures limiting the expression of those beneath them for the purpose of securing the former’s position. In its current form, however, the Great Firewall of China does not exactly do that, and instead it casts a net that at times seems more than a little arbitrary and illogical.
I can understand and accept that the topics that are most sensitive to Chinese politics are blocked (I am not nor have ever been a human rights advocate), but what is unfathomable is that they would incite dissention from those who are not predisposed to it, simply by bringing it to our daily lives. A case in point is Ace Comics in Australia. They sell comic books. That’s all. But their site remains blocked on this side of the Firewall. Why? What possible reason could there be to block such a random site? It would be interesting to hear the leadership’s rationale for this ostensibly capricious limitation; how would it be possible for them to spin it as a way of maintaining social harmony and protecting the sanctity of the pureness that is the Chinese Internet.
Not only is the subject matter not always systematically determined, but also there’s an imbalance of the methods in which the blockade is imposed. Some sites, such as YouTube, are open in a limited capacity. As long as you do not try to watch politically sensitive videos, for example the ‘89 ‘incident’, you are unfettered to view whatever you want. I’m not entirely certain how this is carried out, but perhaps it has something to do with the meta tags (the keywords imbedded in the HTML write up on each page that tells you [and search engines] about the page’s content). It would seem that this too could be done at other blocked sites with content that is not exclusively repugnant to the State. Wikipedia is the best and most obvious blockage. Surely there are many Wiki pages that are potentially damaging to the security (read, CCP’s grip on power) of China, yet, for every one article that is damning, there are a thousand more that are utterly irrelevant. Why not simply block the problematic pages in the same manner as YouTube is being barred?
The reality of living in China is choosing and getting to know your proxy server. You and your proxy server may end up being closer than you and your spouse as you navigate the turgid waters of the cracks in the Firewall as it attempts to stem the free flow of information. There a few problems with proxy servers, including speed, accessibility and effectiveness. Some are quite effective at getting to the sites you are trying to reach, but are so painfully slow that it isn’t worth the bother, whereas others are altogether blocked and inaccessible. Once you find one that suits you, it’s easy to become lulled into a false sense of security. More often than not, at least in my experience, proxies have a short shelf-life, and not only do you have to then seek a new proxy, but also you may have some housekeeping to do, such as cleaning up all those bookmarks that were to proxied sites.
There are some times when a proxy server is not enough to break through the Wall. Many in the West know of the religious group with the acronym FG (I won’t say it for fear of not being able to log onto this page), which if you try to access any page about, immediately comes up blocked even when using a proxy server. I can use a proxy to navigate Wiki quite easily, but as soon as I venture near the dreaded FG, a block comes up. At least that has been my experience so far (keeping in mind, I haven’t been tenaciously seeking out that info as my interest is quite low).
So what’s the point? Why this blog? What do I hope to accomplish? I suppose I would like to share with those of you who have never experienced the Great Firewall of China, the utter ridiculousness and capriciousness with which its implementation often takes the form. I am unable to post this blog without going through a proxy server. Talking about censorship or anything mildly political is not really my cup of tea, and had I not been forced to go through a proxy, I assuredly would have chosen another topic for my first blog entry. Thus, the State, through its random blockades of information and access, are fostering dissention where it previously had not existed, the precise opposite of their intent.
Tags: block, censor, censorship, China, Great Firewall of China, Internet, Internet blocking
