BEIJING, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Google Inc's Gmail
was blocked in China after months of
disruptions to the world's biggest email service,
with an anti-censorship advocate suggesting the
Great Firewall was to blame.
Large numbers of Gmail Web addresses were
cut off in China on Friday, said GreatFire.org, a
China-based freedom of speech advocacy group.
Users said the service was still down on
Monday.
"I think the government is just trying to further
eliminate Google's presence in China and even
weaken its market overseas," said a member of
GreatFire.org, who uses a pseudonym.
Google's own Transparency Report, which shows
real-time traffic to Google services, displayed a
sharp drop-off in traffic to Gmail from China on
Friday.
"We've checked and there's nothing wrong on
our end," a Singapore-based spokesman for
Google said in an email.
In Washington, the U.S. State Department
expressed concern over China's actions.
"We encourage China to be transparent in its
dealings with international companies and to
consider the market signal it sends with such
acts," State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke
said.
Almost all of Google's services have been heavily
disrupted in China since June this year, but until
last week Gmail users could still access emails
downloaded via protocols like IMAP, SMTP and
POP3. These had let people communicate using
Gmail on apps like the Apple iPhone's Mail and
Microsoft Outlook.
China maintains tight control over the Internet,
nipping in the bud any signs of dissent or
challenges to the ruling Communist Party's
leadership.
The country is host to the world's most
sophisticated internet censorship mechanism,
known as the Great Firewall of China. Critics say
China has stepped up its disruption of foreign
online services like Google over the past year to
create an Internet cut off from the rest of the
world.
The Google disruption began in the run-up to
the 25th anniversary of the government's bloody
crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators
around Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4,
1989.
Gmail's setback could make email
communication difficult for companies operating
in China, said GreatFire.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua
Chunying said she did not know anything about
Gmail being blocked, adding that the
government was committed to providing a good
business environment for foreign investors.
"China has consistently had a welcoming and
supportive attitude towards foreign investors
doing legitimate business here," she said. "We
will, as always, provide an open, transparent
and good environment for foreign companies in
China."
One popular way to get around China's internet
censorship is to use a Virtual Private Network
(VPN), which allows unhindered access to
blocked sites and services.
"Using a VPN seems to be the only answer to
doing anything these days online in China," said
Zach Smith, a Beijing-based digital products
manager at City Weekend magazine. (Additional
reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Lesley
Wroughton in Washington; Editing by Nick Macfie
and Richard Chang)

Oops!

One small(?) step towards becoming a world power.

I like this ' the great firewall of China'.. Sounds like the the great wall of China itself. Sweet. But so much for power grip, too much worry.