China just cut off (almost) all external Internet access
4 comments
This was obviously related to the recent government oust of Bo Xilai.
I heard tanks were patrolling streets in Beijing just 2 weeks ago.
I heard tanks were patrolling streets in Beijing just 2 weeks ago.
I noticed this today; it was very glaring. Hopefully its back now, but I won't know until I leave work (we have a GFW-free separate connection in the office).
It could have just been a glitch and nothing planned, but I agree with the poster that these things should be taken seriously (at least by those of us in Beijing).
It could have just been a glitch and nothing planned, but I agree with the poster that these things should be taken seriously (at least by those of us in Beijing).
Well, the U.S. just cut off Library Genesis (gen.lib.rus.ec), the presumably-unauthorized archive of math/science ebooks. It works great from European proxies, but not from here.
(My point is that if they tell you you're getting unfiltered Internet in the U.S., they're lying.)
(My point is that if they tell you you're getting unfiltered Internet in the U.S., they're lying.)
Actually the admins on the site are blocking U.S. users so not to draw attention to themselves like library.nu. I think they had mentioned it on their IRC awhile back.
Will update this post if things change
Update 11:57: skype seems to work for now. Might just only be the web. Yahoo and Msn messengers don't work though
Update 12:07: seems that data is being sent, but nothing comes back. Also, wsj articles load, but not any assets (css, js, images)
Update 12:20: portions of the 3rd ring road in Beijing are being closed. One of the largest "city highways" in beijing.. This is scary, hopefully unrelated
Update: 13:09: looks like everything is back to normal. Only Facebook and such websites still being blocked. phew
Additional info: yesterday text messages (SMS) containing either "Bo Xilai" or "bxl" were rejected. Apparently everything has to do with this thing: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304444604577337951998961744.html?mod=WSJAsia_hpp_LEFTTopStories