Notes from my terminal

Blocking: Made in China

Free speech issues around the infamous Chinese Internet censorship tend to frustrate and confuse me. There doesn't seem to be a logical and coherent set of criteria for the blocking of foreign websites in the Middle Kingdom.

Another blog I maintain on ohlig.info (not this one) is apparently partially blocked in the People's Republic of China. The strange thing about it: This blog is entirely private and may be of interest for friends and family members alone, containing photos of my baby daughter and posts about our family life. I don't have a clue why the photos in this blog get blocked in China.

But I'm not alone. Among the blogs that don't pass the Great Firewall of China are all major blogging services such as Blogger or TypePad, the hosted weblog service from the people that made MovableType (a rather carefully-worded comment on the blocking by the company itself is available on their pages). This Chinese crack-down on blogs has even lead to a solidarity movement called "Adopt a Blog: Support Free Speech".

Truely annoying. Latest in a long row of blocked (but mostly harmless) sites are some domains (not all, mind you) of Axel's weblog from China.