I think that every blog you checked would come up blocked. It appears to be one of those 'spoof' sites. It doesn't make any sense because I get lots of hits from the area. Every day. I guess it could be some govt. official. LOL. I just think the site is a spoof -- attention-garnering.
I'm MUCH more concerned about Hillsborough Cty. censoring blogs and it has three times I have caught in the last two months. Who knows how many other times???
I wouldn't get too worked up about this. It might be due to the tags associated with a particular site and nothing more personal than that.
Even those of us who write for the dailies (either freelance or full time) and reach millions of readers - most of us get our subversive voice out there with little or no (negative) consequence. We don't get banned. We don't get fired. We get a thank you and sometimes a decent check. And then our readership grows. A little anyway. Even in China.
I'm fairly sure it's for real. The only reason I even ran my own site through it was that after getting several hits per day from China--readers who'd found me via Googling "melamine" "food adulteration" and "Chinese government"--they suddenly all stopped.
I learned of the Greatfirewall site from HorsesAss, a large blog in Seattle (the writer is also a radio DJ); he's been writing about the adulterated food and lax policies in China, and he got banned early on.
I'm not really worried or worked up; in fact, I think the banning thing is kind of funny, really. Until I think about what it might be like to not be able to surf the Internet the way we spoiled Westerners do. Imagine no Wikipedia, few blogs, no BBC, no Kos.
The eminently pro-First Amendment folks at Google had to make a tough choice: stick to their guns--no filtering, no censorship--or set up a restricted Google.cn for China, a search engine that only searches so far and stops when it's told. They opted to give the market something, as opposed to nothing, which decision was fueled as much by economics as altruism.
Here's a great article about Internet censorship in China (yay BBC):
"So Chinese netizens find themselves surfing in the shadow of the world's most sophisticated censorship machine, which is now more menacing than ever.
There is now an estimated 30,000-strong internet police force which, with the aid of Western-provided technology, is dedicated to monitoring websites and e-mails.
On a technical level the five gateways which connect China to the global internet filter traffic coming into and going out of the country.
Keyword blocking technology - much of it provided by western companies - is used to prevent access to offending sites."
I agree that censorship is troubling and my personal boycott list includes items "Made in China". Which is difficult, but then, so is eating organic and vegetarian, so I suppose I'm a glutton for punishment.
I just think it has more to do with the tags that define our sites than a higher up in the Chinese gov't saying, "I'm going to ban that pesky Out in Left Field chick." Same with local bans. They ought to allow a free exchange of ideas, but many of them ban political sites with no care for what their politics are. It's general rather than personal.
Kate, you're right, it is all about the keywords. Obviously no-one in the Chinese govt. gives a spicy Kung Pao Rat's ass about me, a little old writer/mother/nobody in St. Pete; however, what I say is potentially troubling, so they block my site, and goodness knows how many others, using very complex keyword search-and-block algorithms. Prior to the blocking of my blog, I was getting several visitors from China every day; they were Googling the words "melamine" "food adulteration" and so forth in their efforts to learn what is obviously not widely-reported by their state media.
I don't get visits from China these days, but I have been visited several times a day, for the past week, by the FDA. Which is either intriguing, creepy, or meaningless--we shall see.
I've checked out the official People's Republic websites, too, and if they're to be believed (!), China is one fabulous place to live and visit--ponies and rainbows for everyone!
The GreatfirewallofChina site is based in the Netherlands, and was put together by a group of artists, dissidents, filmmakers, and tech experts to shine a light on censorship, and, in so doing, promote transparency in government.
Sadly, we will keep doing business with China despite their human rights violations. They have Most Favored Nation status. Whereas Cuba, who undoubtedly are guilty of human rights violations, albeit a smaller number of them than the Chinese (and here we are, acting as though America were not guilty of similar abuses--*Abu Grahib* *Guantanamo* *secret CIA prisons*) can neither buy from nor sell to Americans, nor can Americans even visit the place or (legally) send things to relatives. I'll never understand that.
LitBrit --- my apologies. I had not read your article before I read this. It just struck me weird that I get all those hits from China and I wonder WHY because that was BEFORE nail house. The boyfriend laughs and calls them 'bots'. I haven't checked my hits lately --- when I first became a technical denizen this type of 'net amusement' and 'creating a buzz' with a spoof was rampant. After I checked a few sites I began to think that everyone would come up blocked. I get lots of hits from Reston VA but none from the FDA. I dunno really, I don't delve into them that much but the boyfriend tries to freak me out who they might be??? LOL ! Like you, I suffer serious time constraints. Yesterday I lost my writing and then couldn't vamp it up quickly due to talk-show-radio in my ears .... so it made the day a little weird.
Hey Kate, You gonna mention that in every comment ??? --- the writing for 'dailies' and 'whatever else you called it' as if that confers some currency on you? LOL. Yes, join that stellar reporting staff the Tampa Tribune, who pretended that Pam Iorio was the only one running for Tampa Mayor. Like I said, you DO spin like a republican --- very tribune-ish. WHO does this remind me of? Yes, the constant mentioning of some imagined 'status symbol-ism' ....
I have long noticed that people who have no substantive argument or whatever else it takes .... use this technique. (and though you may have been sick for real and I'm very glad you are fine now, they use that sympathy one, as well so ...) And, the only reason I mention this is that you mention this 'writing for "real" news sources' (ahem!!) in the only two comments you have made on this blog in two days. Or ANY days that I have noticed. You ain't got nothing on no other blogger and I don't care WHERE you write. There are geniuses in the blog o sphere who would not be caught DEAD in the Tribune. And, they do more than say ... I like this/her .. OR I am FOR the death penalty ... with no substantial reason ... just sentimental about it, I guess, eh??? I'm sure the Tampa Tribune would be elated to know they have MILLIONS ?? of readers. Maybe you should have gotten that ego reduced, but perhaps it's a cover up for WHY you had that surgery which seems to involve self-esteem issues.
This is not a personal attack as you performed anonymously on me (over and over again) but merely an observation. You're tiresome.
Nothing personal, Kate. I'm not sure why you felt you needed to attack me so many times and so blatantly (YOU) anonymously ... and I sense you waste a lot of time on thst stuff. Probably have all your life. I don't have that kind of time (or desire for sure, it's asinine) so I'd thank you to set down your .... animosity or whatever and move on to touching those 'millions of voices' again. Which is why I spoke out strongly against the death penalty in case people actually read that shit you espouse for killing people and for a nation that's attacking another nation with no provocation and then anonymously calling everyone who disagrees with you a jew-hater. That makes me feel kinda sick for your immaturity taken before a classroom. I just don't feel any confidence in you separating that persona from the classroom. I'm not sure how you got hooked up with the Trib (have my ideas LOL, some of the stickheads have their 'agendas' and truly subversive connections LOL ) but here's the deal: jewish holidays aren't subversive writing.
It's not exactly drum-beat stuff.
I'll stick with my lil blogs and my own side 'ambitions.' (compared to writing a fake rag that's been infiltrated by your crew) Reaching two or three minds whenever I can.
And, NOT advocating 'perfection' for young women. (through cosmetic surgery) That's worse than advocating for the death penalty. It effects half the population of the world. Sickening. I tried to stick up for you but realized the bigger picture did not include encouraging others to remake their naturally beautiful bodies just to make you feel good about yourself.
And, here, I offer an apology to the women of the world for that momentary lapse of reason.
One of my best friends is a plastic-surgeon as well as an MD and he (and his female nurse) is constantly telling me what beautiful skin I have .... I'm sure he'd give me a great discount but the thought has never crossed my mind. What would I tell those younger than me??? What would that say about my satisfaction with self and a life well lived? What direction would that give them for the future? Too huge for me to fuck up for vanity.
Litbrit, Vox, Out In Left Field And The Stogie
9 comments:
Me too.
I think that every blog you checked would come up blocked. It appears to be one of those 'spoof' sites. It doesn't make any sense because I get lots of hits from the area. Every day. I guess it could be some govt. official. LOL. I just think the site is a spoof -- attention-garnering.
I'm MUCH more concerned about Hillsborough Cty. censoring blogs and it has three times I have caught in the last two months. Who knows how many other times???
I wouldn't get too worked up about this. It might be due to the tags associated with a particular site and nothing more personal than that.
Even those of us who write for the dailies (either freelance or full time) and reach millions of readers - most of us get our subversive voice out there with little or no (negative) consequence. We don't get banned. We don't get fired. We get a thank you and sometimes a decent check. And then our readership grows. A little anyway. Even in China.
I'm fairly sure it's for real. The only reason I even ran my own site through it was that after getting several hits per day from China--readers who'd found me via Googling "melamine" "food adulteration" and "Chinese government"--they suddenly all stopped.
I learned of the Greatfirewall site from HorsesAss, a large blog in Seattle (the writer is also a radio DJ); he's been writing about the adulterated food and lax policies in China, and he got banned early on.
I'm not really worried or worked up; in fact, I think the banning thing is kind of funny, really. Until I think about what it might be like to not be able to surf the Internet the way we spoiled Westerners do. Imagine no Wikipedia, few blogs, no BBC, no Kos.
The eminently pro-First Amendment folks at Google had to make a tough choice: stick to their guns--no filtering, no censorship--or set up a restricted Google.cn for China, a search engine that only searches so far and stops when it's told. They opted to give the market something, as opposed to nothing, which decision was fueled as much by economics as altruism.
Here's a great article about Internet censorship in China (yay BBC):
"So Chinese netizens find themselves surfing in the shadow of the world's most sophisticated censorship machine, which is now more menacing than ever.
There is now an estimated 30,000-strong internet police force which, with the aid of Western-provided technology, is dedicated to monitoring websites and e-mails.
On a technical level the five gateways which connect China to the global internet filter traffic coming into and going out of the country.
Keyword blocking technology - much of it provided by western companies - is used to prevent access to offending sites."
I agree that censorship is troubling and my personal boycott list includes items "Made in China". Which is difficult, but then, so is eating organic and vegetarian, so I suppose I'm a glutton for punishment.
I just think it has more to do with the tags that define our sites than a higher up in the Chinese gov't saying, "I'm going to ban that pesky Out in Left Field chick." Same with local bans. They ought to allow a free exchange of ideas, but many of them ban political sites with no care for what their politics are. It's general rather than personal.
Kate, you're right, it is all about the keywords. Obviously no-one in the Chinese govt. gives a spicy Kung Pao Rat's ass about me, a little old writer/mother/nobody in St. Pete; however, what I say is potentially troubling, so they block my site, and goodness knows how many others, using very complex keyword search-and-block algorithms. Prior to the blocking of my blog, I was getting several visitors from China every day; they were Googling the words "melamine" "food adulteration" and so forth in their efforts to learn what is obviously not widely-reported by their state media.
I don't get visits from China these days, but I have been visited several times a day, for the past week, by the FDA. Which is either intriguing, creepy, or meaningless--we shall see.
I've checked out the official People's Republic websites, too, and if they're to be believed (!), China is one fabulous place to live and visit--ponies and rainbows for everyone!
The GreatfirewallofChina site is based in the Netherlands, and was put together by a group of artists, dissidents, filmmakers, and tech experts to shine a light on censorship, and, in so doing, promote transparency in government.
Sadly, we will keep doing business with China despite their human rights violations. They have Most Favored Nation status. Whereas Cuba, who undoubtedly are guilty of human rights violations, albeit a smaller number of them than the Chinese (and here we are, acting as though America were not guilty of similar abuses--*Abu Grahib* *Guantanamo* *secret CIA prisons*) can neither buy from nor sell to Americans, nor can Americans even visit the place or (legally) send things to relatives. I'll never understand that.
Yeah, I'm with you. I don't understand that either.
LitBrit --- my apologies. I had not read your article before I read this. It just struck me weird that I get all those hits from China and I wonder WHY because that was BEFORE nail house. The boyfriend laughs and calls them 'bots'. I haven't checked my hits lately --- when I first became a technical denizen this type of 'net amusement' and 'creating a buzz' with a spoof was rampant. After I checked a few sites I began to think that everyone would come up blocked.
I get lots of hits from Reston VA but none from the FDA. I dunno really, I don't delve into them that much but the boyfriend tries to freak me out who they might be??? LOL ! Like you, I suffer serious time constraints. Yesterday I lost my writing and then couldn't vamp it up quickly due to talk-show-radio in my ears .... so it made the day a little weird.
Hey Kate, You gonna mention that in every comment ??? --- the writing for 'dailies' and 'whatever else you called it' as if that confers some currency on you? LOL. Yes, join that stellar reporting staff the Tampa Tribune, who pretended that Pam Iorio was the only one running for Tampa Mayor. Like I said, you DO spin like a republican --- very tribune-ish.
WHO does this remind me of? Yes, the constant mentioning of some imagined 'status symbol-ism' ....
I have long noticed that people who have no substantive argument or whatever else it takes .... use this technique. (and though you may have been sick for real and I'm very glad you are fine now, they use that sympathy one, as well so ...) And, the only reason I mention this is that you mention this 'writing for "real" news sources' (ahem!!) in the only two comments you have made on this blog in two days. Or ANY days that I have noticed.
You ain't got nothing on no other blogger and I don't care WHERE you write. There are geniuses in the blog o sphere who would not be caught DEAD in the Tribune. And, they do more than say ... I like this/her .. OR I am FOR the death penalty ... with no substantial reason ... just sentimental about it, I guess, eh???
I'm sure the Tampa Tribune would be elated to know they have MILLIONS ?? of readers. Maybe you should have gotten that ego reduced, but perhaps it's a cover up for WHY you had that surgery which seems to involve self-esteem issues.
This is not a personal attack as you performed anonymously on me (over and over again) but merely an observation. You're tiresome.
Nothing personal, Kate. I'm not sure why you felt you needed to attack me so many times and so blatantly (YOU) anonymously ... and I sense you waste a lot of time on thst stuff. Probably have all your life. I don't have that kind of time (or desire for sure, it's asinine) so I'd thank you to set down your .... animosity or whatever and move on to touching those 'millions of voices' again.
Which is why I spoke out strongly against the death penalty in case people actually read that shit you espouse for killing people and for a nation that's attacking another nation with no provocation and then anonymously calling everyone who disagrees with you a jew-hater. That makes me feel kinda sick for your immaturity taken before a classroom. I just don't feel any confidence in you separating that persona from the classroom.
I'm not sure how you got hooked up with the Trib (have my ideas LOL, some of the stickheads have their 'agendas' and truly subversive connections LOL ) but here's the deal: jewish holidays aren't subversive writing.
It's not exactly drum-beat stuff.
I'll stick with my lil blogs and my own side 'ambitions.' (compared to writing a fake rag that's been infiltrated by your crew) Reaching two or three minds whenever I can.
And, NOT advocating 'perfection' for young women. (through cosmetic surgery)
That's worse than advocating for the death penalty. It effects half the population of the world. Sickening. I tried to stick up for you but realized the bigger picture did not include encouraging others to remake their naturally beautiful bodies just to make you feel good about yourself.
And, here, I offer an apology to the women of the world for that momentary lapse of reason.
One of my best friends is a plastic-surgeon as well as an MD and he (and his female nurse) is constantly telling me what beautiful skin I have .... I'm sure he'd give me a great discount but the thought has never crossed my mind. What would I tell those younger than me??? What would that say about my satisfaction with self and a life well lived? What direction would that give them for the future?
Too huge for me to fuck up for vanity.
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