Beijing Blocks Access To Google.com...

[Teddy Rogers]

After submitting to a certain censorship level of the search result content with the start of the local Google, GuGe (Valley Song), the online giant faces once more the Beijing censors.

Numerous reports seem to indicate that Chinese Internet users from different provinces of the country can no longer access Google.com, despite the fact that its local and intensely censored version it's up and running with no problems.

This comes after Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder and president had announced that only approximately one percent of the Chinese Internet users used Google.cn, the rest sticking with Google.com.

The Chinese Government did not comment in any way the censorship allegations but the problems encountered by Google are similar to those of other sites blocked by the Beijing censors. Google faced the Chinese Government in the past, in 2002 its services being completely blocked.

“It was only to be expected that Google.com would be gradually sidelined after the censored version was launched in January. Google has just definitively joined the club of western companies that comply with online censorship in China. It is deplorable that Chinese Internet users are forced to wage a technological war against censorship in order to access banned content,” Reporters Without Borders representatives said.

The context of this censorship is somewhat symbolical. The 4th of June marked 17 years since the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Ted.

[zer0buRn]

It's China, what ya expect? Public freedom and choice?