For anyone out there who wants to experience what it's like to surf the Net from inside China, you can do so by installing the China Channel Firefox addon. When turned on you will suddenly have a Chinese IP address, and you'll get a better understanding of what Chinese Net users face everyday. 

The severity of the Great Firewall is often exaggerated by Western journalists who don't understand it very well. This plugin is certainly a positive step that may help some wrap their heads around it a little better. But make no mistake, censorship in China is still a serious problem that needs to be discussed, and hopefully, tools like this will bring a few more informed opinions to the table.

This will be an especially useful plugin for me since my days here in the Middle Kingdom are winding down, and I'll soon be watching China from afar. Well, sort of afar... More on all that in my next post.



H/t to fellow "CNETer" (that's not a word, is it?) Seth for the tip on this plugin.

 

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