Flickr blocked: Great Firewall, your mother's in for a long night...

Jun 11, 2007 12:08

Flickr.com is the latest victim of China's Net Nanny, otherwise known as the Great Firewall (or GFW for short). While the Flickr site is not actually blocked, access to the image servers seems to have been impeded, resulting in most of the Flickr pages looking like this from inside China. This story has been well covered over at Rconversation and here at CNET. In a nutshell, here's what's going on:

Flickr asserts that there is nothing wrong on its end:

Update from Flickr staff (10:00 PDT, June 7): It seems that access to our image servers is being blocked for users in much of China. Our technical staff has looked into this at depth and determined this is not a technical issue from our end. We will keep an eye on the situation and update if we get any developments.

Update from Flickr staff [2] (01:00 PDT, June 8): We are checking periodically to see if the block is still in place, but haven't detected any change. We hope that this is a temporary issue and we currently believe that it will be. In the meantime, we are investigating our alternatives. Thank's for your patience,

There is speculation on Danwei that this blocking is a result of Anti-PX Chemical Factory Protests being covered in Xiamen by amateur photo-journalists on Flickr.

I have a feeling he's right, because if we trot on over to YouTube and do a quick search for Xiamen+PX, some of the videos in the search results can't be viewed (at the time of writing).

Whatever the case, Chinese netizens are none too pleased, and are not being shy at all in expressing their opinions about the Great Firewall. Whether Flickr remains blocked long term or it's back up and running in a few days, the reaction of angry Chinese netizens to this situation is an indication of a changing Internet climate in China. The comments to Chinese blogger Keso's post F_ck the GFW are an interesting read. Here are a selected few, roughly translated:

• F_ck the GFW's mother! I can't open it (Flickr).


• Blogger has a lot of yellow (read pornographic) content, but Flickr? I'm speechless.


• The Net police, all their mothers are stupid ___s


• F_ck! F_ck! F_ck! F_ck! F_ck! F_ck! F_ck! F_ck! F_ck!


• The GFW is the best example of (the lack of) Chinese Human Rights.


• This is a good scolding. Together F_ck! We don't need such protection, we need to openly accept the real world!


• Lets go to Tian'anmen and protest. Let them bring out the tanks again.


• F_ck 18 generations of their ancestors!

Eighteen generations?! Now that's one mother of an insult!

I think it's fascinating that the Great Firewall picks up on Flickr, but misses out on juicy stuff like this. I should also add that many of these comments were not made anonymously, just in case you were wondering.

Rants like these just show that many Chinese netizens are starting to become pretty comfortable speaking their minds online. And no matter how many external sites are blocked from their view, a lively internal discussion has gotta count for something.

I should note that there is a reported workaround to the Flickr block for Firefox users. It's a simple addon which you can install onto your browser, developed by Hamed Saber for use in Iran. But, of course, publishers in China who use Flickr images (i.e. me!) might be up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

Lets hope this is only temporary...

If not Photobucket and Zooomr might find themselves with a flood of new users from China.

Update:

Confirmation from Yahoo that China is Blocking Flickr

"In another instance of censorship against websites about anything anti-establishment in China, Flickr, popular among a growing class of digital photo enthusiasts in the world's second-largest Internet market, has not shown photos to users in mainland China since last week, amid rumors Beijing took action after images of the Tiananmen massacre in early June 1989 were posted. "It is our understanding that Flickr users in China are not able to see images on Flickr, and we have confirmed that this is not a technical issue on our end," a spokeswoman for Yahoo Hong Kong said in an email in response to a Reuters inquiry." --- via Slashthedot by way of Slashdot

Good job Yahoo.
But I don't think it's due to Tian'anmen photos.
If that was the case, these youtube videos would likely have been taken care of long ago:

• CBC News Report, on Tian'anmen 1989 Submitted October 2006, still viewable inside China.


• Tank Man Submitted December 2006, still viewable inside China.

There are tons more, but I think you see my point.

I still think the Xiamen incident triggered it.

Whatever the cause, the result is the same:
Flickr is still blocked.

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