Yesterday, I happened across an interesting online application that allows you to see if a site is blocked from being viewed in China. As can be expected, I was curious to see if Some Random Dude was blocked; thinking the entire time that there was no way anyone in China would give a damn about this small, unassuming site. To my utter disbelief, the service did in fact notify me that this site is blocked in China. I am still extremely surprised by this and part of me thinks the service that informed me of this is just flat out wrong. I would love to have someone (from China) tell me that this is incorrect – I have to think there are at least a few peeps from China reading this site (if it is not blocked of course).
I am a big opponent of censorship of any kind, most notably online censorship – so this obviously rubs me the wrong way. China’s censorship of the web is well renowned and both deplorable and unacceptable for a country that many consider the next superpower. Freedom of information is absolutely essential to a healthy society and a healthy internet. I try my best to keep this blog as open as possible – I want people to dig through this site, see my traffic stats and be as much a part of this blog as myself. I think that is why I find even that possibility of some outside entity blocking my site without my permission so despicable.
This is just another example of why we all need to support methods of subverting the Chinese firewall.
UPDATE: – Turns out the website above is giving bunk information. Some Random Dude is not banned in China – my apologies for the mistake. The good thing those is that this has caused some very good discussion about privacy and free speech.
