'Great Firewall of China' Blocks Some Searches

By Jane McEntegart
published

Yesterday Google announced that it would be pulling out of China and instead redirecting Chinese users to Google.com.hk, where the search engine would be offering uncensored results in simplified Chinese.

While it seemed like an adequate solution for Google, most assumed China would block access to Google.com.hk eventually and media reports suggest that day is upon us.

TechRadar reports that the 'great firewall of China' is already blocking search results from Google's Hong Kong hosted site.  TR says Chinese Internet users searching for information on Falun Gong, the banned spiritual movement, or '89 student movement' through Google Hong Kong were met with an all-too familiar message: "the connection was reset" today.

CNet cites Gene Munster, a financial analyst with Piper Jaffray, who is reporting something similar. Munster has a contact in China who says the message would appear after consecutive searches for a particular topic or repeated searches about a sensitive subject. However, Munster said that restarting the computer after you ran into problems seemed to restore access.

More on Google's decision to leave China:

29 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Adidaz
    Can they google porn? lol
    Reply
  • UbeRveLT
    Grow up china..... your only hurting yourself and your people.
    Reply
  • dman3k
    AdidazCan they google porn? lolJust use bing videos.
    9191051 said:
    Grow up china..... your only hurting yourself and your people.
    Quiet frankly I dunno what's the difference between state-sponsored news and hate-driven religious-blasphemy that is Faux News.
    Reply
  • HalJordan
    dman3kJust use bing videos.Quiet frankly I dunno what's the difference between state-sponsored news and hate-driven religious-blasphemy that is Faux News.
    You can speak out against Fox News and not disappear the next day.
    Reply
  • astrodudepsu
    Because for every Faux News story there is another one from the Clinton News Network slanted the other way. We have diversity and choice! State news is all the same.
    Reply
  • the_krasno
    Somebody already was voting down comments. Chinese censorship maybe?
    Reply
  • HalJordan
    the_krasnoSomebody already was voting down comments. Chinese censorship maybe?
    Nope, user based censorship (however not really censored so much as tucked away, you can still see the "offending" comments if you want), key word in your post was "vote."
    Reply
  • dman3k
    astrodudepsuBecause for every Faux News story there is another one from the Clinton News Network slanted the other way. We have diversity and choice! State news is all the same.While we're on the subject of brainwashing...
    Reply
  • aford10
    If China had a good reason for censoring searches, I think many would be more sympathetic to them (myself included). It just seems like the powers that be, are afraid to lose their control/power, so they force feed controlled propoganda.
    Reply
  • micr0be
    all i know is that if u tell someone not to think about a big pink elephant .... thats all u gona be thinkin about .... china doesn't get that logic
    Reply