VPN

Bored with our broken VPN (virtual private network) connection I decide to write a blog post about it. Not that I can upload it without VPN connection but I'll have it ready when it's back up. The Chinese Firewall. It's famous, but what's it actually all about? Let's try google it. Doesn't work, well of course. 

Every webpage that is blocked by the Firewall opens with the message that my internet is currently unavailable. Well hello, not really. Internet is up and running. Websites don't open, or take hours to open and always without pictures or movies. The most random search words such as 'river' or 'Zhou' are on the black list. 

I imagine a vast room full with censors behind old pc's browsing the web for dangerous content. They scream and giggle excitedly every time they stumble upon something. These guys know every negative opinion about government affairs in China at present. Because that is what it is all about: Chinese citizens shouldn't read or write critical about China. The aim of the firewall is to control the internet and through that the people. If this is really possible is under discussion, all dictatorships around the world are giving it a shot at the moment, China most intensively. 

Chinese government officials work hard to keep unwanted news out of the media. Weibo (similar to Twitter) users forward news at the speed of light, before the censors can even add search words or block access to certain blogs or websites. The media are then forced to issue a statement after all. It's only thanks to these daring citizens that we hear about demonstrations, uprisings and the like around the country. And even then only the official version of those events. 

There is a proposal to require Weibo subscribers to register themselves with their identity number. No more anonymity. The censors can then easily call their friends at the police when they discover too much freedom of thought. Already they don't only block at least 18,000 websites, but also internet access of individual users.

I must be so cranky because Facebook is down, and Facebook is addictive, that's what I've realized in the past few days. Never noticed myself using it so much until now that I can't. And all I want to look at are silly statements and pictures, nothing revolutionary if you ask me. 

Weibo is similar to Twitter 

Renren is similar to Facebook 

Baidu is similar to Google 

It's hard not to notice how similar all these websites are to their Western counterparts. Even though the government can never check all chat rooms, websites and blogs, they rely on self-censorship, the fear of being shot down as a website creates room for jobs as 'big mama', checking and deleting potentially sensitive content. 

Well, the VPN connection is back up, and I'm free to access and post everything again. Luckily there are still loopholes in the system, even if they require patience sometimes.