BBC: China blocks second search website


Friday, 6 September, 2002, 08:17 GMT 09:17 UK


Internet cafes are closely monitored

China has blocked a second internet search engine, less than a week after banning the hugely popular Google website.

Chinese internet users trying to use the AltaVista.com search engine have found it cannot be reached.

The site was inaccessible when tested by BBC News Online using a system developed by researchers at the Harvard Law School.

The measures comes ahead of a vital Communist Party meeting in November during which the country's leadership is expected to be overhauled.

Search ban

China maintains tight controls on the internet, muzzling the web as a forum for free information and discussion among its 45 million web users.

It routinely blocks access to foreign news sites such as the BBC and frequently forces domestic sites to remove political material.

But this is the first time it has blocked search engines, which carry links to other sites but do not generally offer content themselves.

Google does keep its own archives of web pages, to make surfing faster and more efficient.

That search engine, which has a highly-popular Chinese language version, has been unavailable in China since the weekend.

Satellite action

Media freedom groups have expressed their concern, calling on China to lift the ban on Google.

Other search engines such as Yahoo.com are still available in China.

Yahoo is one of the 130 major web portals that recently signed a voluntary pledge not to post information that would jeopardize state security and disrupt social stability in China.

Beijing is also tightening up on satellite communications networks.

The authorities are planning nationwide checks on the unauthorized use of satellites networks and ground relay stations, said the state media on Thursday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2240493.stm

 Yearly Archive   Printer Version


We welcome your comments and suggestions, please email:
feedback@clearwisdom.net

Related Articles

Article Review
• AFP: Harvard student finds China blocks hundreds of websites [9/9/2002]
• Xinhua News Agency and CCTV's "Focus Interview" Acknowledge that Falun Gong Practitioners Are Taught Not to Take Lives [9/9/2002]
• Houston Chinese Consulate Spreads Lies; Public Library Refuses to Display Slanderous Brochure [9/9/2002]
• The Icelandic Government Does Not Deny That the Blacklist Was Obtained from the Jiang Regime (Photo) [9/8/2002]
• Madrid Declaration On Ethical Standards for Psychiatric Practice [9/7/2002]
• Korean Students Recount their Nine Days of Fa-Rectification Activities in Mainland China [9/7/2002]
• UK Foreign Ministry Raises Falun Gong Issue with the New Chinese Ambassador [9/7/2002]
• The Japan Times: Psychiatric Abuse In China [9/6/2002]
• A Six-Year-Old Boy Writes to the Prime Minister of Canada Appealing to End the Killing of Falun Gong Practitioners in China [9/6/2002]
• How Can We Do Better In Clarifying the Truth [9/6/2002]
• AP:  Google ban limits Internet access in China [9/5/2002]
• Feedback from Canada: Attention from Overseas Media Results in Improved Detention Conditions for Our Relatives in China [9/5/2002]
• Reference: The Government's Responsibility in the Flood Disasters in Hunan Province Over the Years [9/4/2002]
• Letter from the Swiss Falun Dafa Association to the Prime Minister of Ukraine [9/4/2002]
• Examples of Immediate Retribution in This Lifetime [9/4/2002]
• CNN: China reportedly blocks Google access [9/3/2002]
• Falun Gong Truth-Clarifying Broadcasts Seen in Hebei Province and Beijing [9/3/2002]
• Letter from United Kingdom's Falun Dafa Association to the Ambassador of the Embassy of Ukraine [9/2/2002]
• An Open Letter from Friends of Falun Gong in Canada to All Journalists and Media in Iceland [9/2/2002]
• Authorities from the Dabei Prison in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province Sexually Assault and Torture Female Dafa Practitioners [9/1/2002]
• More Articles...