
Google breaks through China’s Great Firewall  but only for just over an hour - jacquesm
http://www.scmp.com/tech/china-tech/article/1931301/google-breaks-through-chinas-great-firewall-only-just-over-hour
======
nxzero
Guessing this wasn't intentional, though I'd be surprised if Google wasn't
aware that Google Search was available and rolled it out without giving China
a heads up.

As for China, can't believe they don't black list any TLD or sub-domain with
Google in it; not that I'm for blocking Google, Google itself, etc.

Makes me wonder why someone doesn't just doesn't deploy it and give hints on
"how to see beyond the Great Fire Wall"; fun fact, it's rumored that the
average person has never heard of Tankman in China:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man)

------
Laforet
One thing I learned from this episode is that the GFW does not yet have the
ability to automatically filter HTTPS traffic based on certificate signatures.
Someone have suggested before and now we have some evidence that this is not
the case.

P.S. Google is a prime candidate for this kind of filtering since they reuse
one huge certificate containing almost every domain they use, despite
maintaining an intermediate CA at the same time.

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vorg
I couldn't read this article because the South China Morning Post website has
been blocked by the Great Firewall for the past few months. Before that,
though, I could only access about 5 (I think) stories a month from scmp.com
because they had a paywall. What's the difference between a Firewall and a
paywall from a user's point of view?

~~~
nxzero
Great Fire Wall is controled via malware, backdoors, network filtering, etc.;
sort of like security firewalls, but only if compared to what a company might
do to enforce their policies for what employees are able to use the Internet
for. Paywalls are just a pay for access method for making money from content,
and unrelated to the topic; meaning it's not like in China there a secret
backdoor for the top government officials to see the real Internet; oh, wait,
there likely is... :-)

~~~
vorg
> Paywalls are just a pay for access method for making money from content, and
> unrelated to the topic

I asked what the difference between a Firewall and a paywall is " _from a user
's point of view_". At various times and in different ways it's possible to
bypass the Firewall depending on how much you want to pay, e.g. using VPN's,
using proxies though there's less of them around nowadays, visiting Hong Kong,
getting friends overseas to scrape and email content, and the Firewall seems
to fail periodically, not just from the Google change last weekend but often
for a minute here, an hour there, for different websites.

~~~
nxzero
Right, though "paying" for access wasn't an official option, where paywalls
are an official option; comparable to paying for VPNs to get around official
Internet blocks would be more like paying for access to a file sharing site to
download pirates content. There less and less "pay" options because China is
getting better and better at blocking the Internet. Happy to clarify anything
or try to answer any additional questions you might have.

~~~
vorg
> "paying" for access wasn't an official option

Official and unofficial are two ends of a long sliding scale. Many paywalled
newsites allow unlimited access if the article is accessed through links from
search engines. This is an "unofficial" option. Accessing American TV shows
from within China is more "unofficial".

Firewalls are set up by those who claim ownership over the people using the
net; paywalls are set up by those who claim ownership over the information
being accessed. Not only do both those concepts of ownership sound suspect to
me, but also from the user's POV the experience of a Firewall and a paywall on
the official-unofficial spectrum is the same.

Edit: By "paying" I meant paying with money (e.g. VPN's), with time (e.g. a
day in HK), with guanxi (e.g. friends scaping and emailing sites), etc.

~~~
nxzero
Feel like you asked a question that at the very least doesn't express the
issue you're facing to me, what exactly is the real problem that you
personally are facing that's not overly broad; for example, how do I allow
everyone in China to have access to anything on the Internet forever for free
from anywhere? (Sorry, but just trying to be clear.) Also, paywalls might be
defined as paid Internet access and those system often limit use of the
Internet; this includes limiting access to content.

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sankoz
A short while ago, I visited China for a week. Before my visit, I had
dutifully downloaded the offline Mandarin files for Google Translate in my
Nexus 5 in the hope of using it even when Google isn't available. But it was
of no use because it still needed to contact Google for whatever reason and
refused to do any voice/image translation.

------
jxramos
Nice to hear the enthusiasm! Interesting transient experience to experience
vicariously on this end of the web.

------
fatman13gg
The title is very misleading by using word like "break through".

------
sharetea
Also related, looks like China's finally cutting itself off the rest of the
internet in the world....switching from blacklisting to whitelisting.

"The proposed rules would prohibit the country’s Internet-service providers
from allowing connections to websites with domains, or Web addresses,
registered outside China. Violators would face fines of up to 30,000 yuan
($4,621) and public notices exposing their failure to obey."

[http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-seeks-more-legal-muscle-
to...](http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-seeks-more-legal-muscle-to-block-
foreign-websites-1459230128)

~~~
sehr
That's so incredibly saddening. One of the greatest mediums for cultural
exchange, possibly lopped off at the head before it could grow up.

~~~
mikekchar
I don't imagine it will happen in my lifetime, but I think there will be a
time where China will want the rest of the world to understand them more than
they want to block off the rest of the world. It's easy to think about
government regimes in a polarised fashion - western democratic model: good,
insular communist model: bad. In truth there is plenty of corruption to go
around. Those in power find ways to stay in power for the long haul -- this is
something all cultures share. The difference is _how_ they do it.

As you say, the internet changes the world and I believe that it will create
opportunities that even the most insular governments will not be able to pass
up. It will take decades, but I think that it must happen. _Our_ task in the
meantime is to ensure that the internet stays functional. Things like strong
encryption is vital. Probably net neutrality is a close second. Even in more
open cultures, there are powerful forces trying to limit what the internet can
be. As long as we can keep it unfettered in one place, I believe the benefits
it brings will eventually draw everybody in. As such, my (unasked for) advice
is not to worry too much about what China is doing and to concentrate on
keeping the internet free where you are.

~~~
hackuser
> > Our task in the meantime is to ensure that the internet stays functional
> ...

I'd add end-user control to your list, as archaic as that might sound these
days. Centralized systems provide a single point of political pressure and of
failure.

