6 Responses for "And there goes the continent…"

1. number5 September 20th, 2006 at 9:57 am

   Hello from China!

   Sorry, no good news.
   I need to dig a hole on GFW to reach your peanut, damn!

   BTW: pbwiki is delicious! Thanks!

2. Marshall September 21st, 2006 at 11:57 am

   Bad news for blogsafer.org

3. Curt September 27th, 2006 at 8:56 pm

   Unless the http://www.blogsafer.org domain skirts it? (What do I know from technology?)

4. blocked in china August 23rd, 2007 at 8:55 pm

   You know, a local Chinese fellow recently sued China Telecom (the same people who appear to be blocking you) and he got unblocked because he made it into a commercial issue, not a political one. (see: http://www.danwei.org/media_regulation/suing_the_net_nanny.php)

   Every blogger (among other blocked sites) using blogspot/blogger to promote his or her business is essentially getting screwed commercially by the Chinese telecoms (because they in fact are the ones doing the blocking, not the nefarious security agencies — who are just telling them to do it).

   It is clearly a form of digital trade embargo and should be treated that way. The Chinese gov never admits that they have a political reason for blocking this or that site, hence people should treat it exactly that way — if it’s not political, then it’s either technical or commercial. (Just like that guy in Shanghai who sued China Telecom.) If technical, then a call to tech support ought to do the trick. If commercial, then do what anyone would do if a certain country suddenly kept turning a gajillion pounds of products for no stated reason whatsoever!

   Those of us in China — Americans and Chinese — do care about this a lot, and it would actually help advance Chinese democracy if American companies made a bigger deal about this.

   Tell your Congressperson that China Telecom is blocking you. Not “the Chinese gov is blocking you” — because that’s actually not true. It’s the Telecom that is blocking you. Until the gov actually steps in and declares the block is being initiated by the government (which they never do), then it’s a commercial issue. And the Telecom will be in the hot seat, not the government per se. Even Chinese courts will have to hear these cases. They have no choice. They have to live up to their own b.s.

   If the US Congress starts hearing the same story from small and medium sized IT companies all over the US, it will really start to matter. Why should China Telecom be blocking US companies in China and still be free to operate in America (via China Telecom USA and other subsidiaries) without any kind of trade penalties?

   Companies like Baidu.com trade freely on our stock exchanges and are yet given a clear competitive advantage over American companies by the inexplicable and seemingly reckless blocking of American websites who are their competitors.

   Or, Why Cisco be allowed to make a ton of money selling to the Chinese security services and PBWiki be prevented from providing a great service to the average law-abiding Chinese citizen?

   Rarely do free speech and free trade neatly in one issue. I should imagine that every member of Congress would have a strong interest in this issue.

5. jing June 9th, 2009 at 12:12 pm

   it’s 2009 june 10. still blocked in china. can someone in pbworks fix this?

6. David Weekly June 9th, 2009 at 3:42 pm

   Jing,

   I regret to report that there’s nothing we can fix at PBworks. This is a policy of the Government of China, which (sadly) I do not control. There’s no form they have or procedure I’m aware of for getting unblocked.

   -David Weekly
   Founder & Chairman, PBworks