Chinese Google Users Plan Tech Workarounds

http://cn.wsj.com/gb/20100115/bch095718_ENversion.shtml


LINK: ▀ Chinese Google Users Plan Tech Workarounds


For Google Inc. users in China, the big question isn't whether the Internet giant retreats from China, but if Beijing retaliates by blocking Google's international search site.

If Beijing decides to put the site on the other side of the 'Great Firewall,' as the country's system of Internet controls is informally known, college student Shi Yuchen has a workaround already planned. She'll simply fanqiang, or 'scale the wall.'

'No matter what, I will continue to use [Google] by applying some 'scaling the wall' tools,' Ms. Shi says.

To help people like Ms. Shi, a small but influential number of tech-savvy Chinese have been schooling their fellow citizens on how to gain access to blocked sites.

A search for the term fanqiang on Google or Baidu Inc., China's largest search engine, turns up dozens of Web sites with instructions on how to get around the country's Internet restrictions.

At a Chinese blogger conference held in the mountains of southern Guangdong province in November, Zhou Shuguang, a well-known blogger and citizen journalist, gave a presentation on 10 ways that Chinese Internet users can access Twitter, which has been blocked in China since mid-2009.

Although it is impossible to obtain concrete figures, a steadily rising number of China's 338 million Internet users already use proxies, virtual private networks (VPNs) and other workarounds.

VPNs and proxies allow a computer to access the Internet through a remote server. If the server is located outside of China, then it won't be subject to China's Internet controls. VPNs are encrypted and considered more secure than proxies.

'The more China blocks people, the more savvy people are going to get,' says Thomas Crampton, Asia-Pacific director of digital influence at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide.

Google's warning that it may leave China has left Internet users wondering what will happen to their Gmail accounts. But it could also encourage more Internet users to 'scale the wall.'

Google has said that it plans to stop censoring search results on its Chinese search engine Google.cn and that it will negotiate with Chinese authorities to find a way to offer unfiltered search results while remaining in accordance with Chinese law.

Analysts say it is unlikely the government will agree to allow an uncensored Google.cn to operate in China, and that Google will have to shut its business in China. In theory, Chinese Internet users could still use the U.S.-based Google.com site, which doesn't filter its search results, though users aren't able to access links to content that is blocked in China.