OpenNet Initiative: Bulletin 001

As reported by Reporters Without Borders, the two blog hosting sites, Blogbus.com and Blogcn.com, have been shutdown. These websites are not filtered or blocked through technical means, they are accessible to Internet users in China. However, the content has been removed and replaced with messages indicating that the websites themselves have been temporarily shut down. [1]

These developments have not affected other popular blog hosting sites such as www.blogchina.com, www.blogspot.com, www.blogger.com, www.blogdriver.com, which remain accessible to Internet users in China.

However, testing indicates that although www.blogspot.com is accessible, blogs hosted by blogspot.com, which are accessed through sub-domains (*.blogspot.com), are in fact, inaccessible to Internet users in China.

196 blog sites hosted by Blogspot.com were tested using 25 computers located in China, distributed over 4 backbone networks in China. The results indicate that although blogspot.com and www.blogspot.com were accessible, sites hosted by blogspot.com were largely inaccessible from computers in China. Despite being readily accessible locally (from a non-filtered location), the computers in China either displayed a message indicating that the requested website could not be accessed or were subject to a "Time Out" error, effectively making the requested content inaccessible.

1. Censorship stepped up to target blogging http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=9545

Methodology & Limitations

In order to enumerate Internet filtering worldwide, researchers use remote computers located in countries that employ content filtering and blocking practices.

However, there are limitations in content filtering and blocking research. The network connection errors indicative of Internet filtering and blocking are identical to normal errors that occur during the course of Internet traffic routing. In other cases, the content filtering software may return a "block page" when filtered content is accessed which has the same HTTP response code received when a web page is successly accessed. Futhermore, the remote computers may return results that are not indicative of overall Internet filtering within a given country.

To ensure accuracy, the HTTP headers of "block pages" are compared with the HTTP headers of accessible content along with the local connection's HTTP headers in order to determine the location at which the content is being filtered. Additionally, all websites are checked locally (from a non-filtered location) and from multiple remote computers (on different Internet Service Providers and national backbone networks where applicable) at multiple time periods.

About Us

The OpenNet Initiative is a partnership of the Citizen Lab at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, and the Advanced Network Research Group at the Cambridge Security Programme, University of Cambridge.

www.opennetinitiative.net

Screen Shots of Blogbus.com and Blogcn.com

Testing was conducted from computers on the folowing networks:

CNCGROUP
China Network Communications (CNC Group)
http://www.chinanetcom.com.cn/

CERNET
China Education and Research Network
http://www.edu.cn/

CNNIC
China Internet Network Information Center
http://www.cnnic.net.cn/

CHINANET
Operated by China Telecom
http://www.chinatelecom.com.cn

Green: Indicates the URL was successfully accessed by both a local connnection as well as through remote computer.
Red: Indicates the URL was successfully accessed by a local connnection but was inaccessible through a remote computer.

Blogs

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CERNET

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CNNIC07

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CHINANET02

CHINANET03

CHINANET04

CHINANET05

CHINANET06

CHINANET07

CHINANET08

http://www.blogcn.com/

http://www.blogbus.com/

http://www.blogger.com/

http://www.blogspot.com/

http://www.blogdriver.com/

http://www.blogchina.com/

inurl:blogspot.com

CNCGRP01

CNCGRP02

CNCGRP03

CNCGRP04

CNCGRP05

CNCGRP06

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CERNET

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http://blogspot.com/

http://dean2004.blogspot.com/

http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/

http://attu.blogspot.com/

http://sherpablog.blogspot.com/

http://philcarter.blogspot.com/

http://counterspin.blogspot.com/

http://atrios.blogspot.com/

http://epeus.blogspot.com/

http://saddamhussein.blogspot.com/

http://websense.blogspot.com/

http://zonitics.blogspot.com/

http://bgbg.blogspot.com/

http://eve-tushnet.blogspot.com/

http://susanmernit.blogspot.com/

http://cebooks.blogspot.com/

http://www.merdeinfrance.blogspot.com/

http://uis.blogspot.com/

http://halleyscomment.blogspot.com/

http://paris-hilton-video.blogspot.com/

http://iraniangirl.blogspot.com/

http://amygdalagf.blogspot.com/

http://leonardo.blogspot.com/

http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/

http://instapundit.blogspot.com/

http://avoyagetoarcturus.blogspot.com/

http://relapsedcatholic.blogspot.com/

http://dearraed.blogspot.com/

http://www.deadscientists.blogspot.com/

http://healingiraq.blogspot.com/

http://lashawnbarber.blogspot.com/

http://sjakie.blogspot.com/

http://drezner.blogspot.com/

http://lsolum.blogspot.com/

http://thehomelessguy.blogspot.com/

http://newflux.blogspot.com/

http://orihuela.blogspot.com/

http://markshea.blogspot.com/

http://amandadoerty.blogspot.com/

http://hotlinks.blogspot.com/

http://blissout.blogspot.com/

http://armedndangerous.blogspot.com/

http://kenmacleod.blogspot.com/

http://www.bazac.blogspot.com/

http://resourceshelf.blogspot.com/

http://matrixessays.blogspot.com/

http://jdmx.blogspot.com/

http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/

http://www.911skeptics.blogspot.com/

http://guide-wifi.blogspot.com/

http://lafeuille.blogspot.com/

http://scaryduck.blogspot.com/

http://slsk.blogspot.com/

http://webvoice.blogspot.com/

http://messopotamian.blogspot.com/

http://unmedia.blogspot.com/

http://timblair.blogspot.com/

http://elemming2.blogspot.com/

http://www.sixpoints.blogspot.com/

http://marcvaldezcalgov.blogspot.com/

http://crocolyle.blogspot.com/

http://freedomrider.blogspot.com/

http://torillsin.blogspot.com/

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

http://stuarthughes.blogspot.com/

http://beautifulzueri.blogspot.com/

http://nanobot.blogspot.com/

http://tedbarlow.blogspot.com/

http://poopsheet.blogspot.com/

http://periodistas21.blogspot.com/

http://oxblog.blogspot.com/

http://www.blogger.com/

http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/

http://britneyspearsnude.blogspot.com/

http://davebarry.blogspot.com/

http://volokh.blogspot.com/

http://feliciano.blogspot.com/

http://www.handheldlib.blogspot.com/

http://deancalltoaction.blogspot.com/

http://pulpnonfiction.blogspot.com/

http://turningtables.blogspot.com/

http://seanmcgrath.blogspot.com/

http://mediatic.blogspot.com/

http://xymphora.blogspot.com/

http://wilgorenwatch.blogspot.com/

http://communityfiber.blogspot.com/

http://caracaschronicles.blogspot.com/

http://www.cyberactivist.blogspot.com/

http://iraqataglance.blogspot.com/

http://1169andcounting.blogspot.com/

http://bloggingtips.blogspot.com/

http://catalogablog.blogspot.com/

http://bordersreadersunited.blogspot.com/

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/

http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/

http://www.deakialli.blogspot.com/

http://blogbib.blogspot.com/

http://appellateblog.blogspot.com/

http://sashinka.blogspot.com/

http://tallskinnykiwi.blogspot.com/

http://takingsides.blogspot.com/

http://serps.blogspot.com/

http://bodyandsoul.blogspot.com/

http://chuckolsen.blogspot.com/

http://3650anda12inch.blogspot.com/

http://templeofgwbush.blogspot.com/

http://contentbiz.blogspot.com/

http://southernappeal.blogspot.com/

http://soundblox.blogspot.com/

http://vitaminq.blogspot.com/

http://fileunder.blogspot.com/

http://jansegers.blogspot.com/

http://www.blogbusinessworld.blogspot.com/

http://uggabugga.blogspot.com/

http://www.buchanan04.blogspot.com/

http://medpundit.blogspot.com/

http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/

http://warbloggerwatch.blogspot.com/

http://www.conniescomments.blogspot.com/

http://kennebunklibrary.blogspot.com/

http://callcenterinindia.blogspot.com/

http://amywelborn.blogspot.com/

http://angrybear.blogspot.com/

http://codshit.blogspot.com/

http://www.biased-bbc.blogspot.com/

http://pagecount.blogspot.com/

http://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/

http://rittenhouse.blogspot.com/

http://ubaid.blogspot.com/

http://jonnybaker.blogspot.com/

http://hoystory.blogspot.com/

http://patricklogan.blogspot.com/

http://jsps.blogspot.com/

http://roboticnation.blogspot.com/

http://relicious.blogspot.com/

http://excitedutterances.blogspot.com/

http://themaddater.blogspot.com/

http://talg.blogspot.com/

http://afamilyinbaghdad.blogspot.com/

http://arghfuckkill.blogspot.com/

http://zillman.blogspot.com/

http://binkley.blogspot.com/

http://tristero.blogspot.com/

http://posthumanblues.blogspot.com/

http://renehan.blogspot.com/

http://scoobiedavis.blogspot.com/

http://rogerailes.blogspot.com/

http://capescience.blogspot.com/

http://london-underground.blogspot.com/

http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/

http://netmarketing.blogspot.com/

http://mouche.blogspot.com/

http://xnerg.blogspot.com/

http://jsnotes.blogspot.com/

http://www.aflightrisk.blogspot.com/

http://dharsanyi.blogspot.com/

http://milfhunter-moms.blogspot.com/

http://physik.blogspot.com/

http://queridoleitor.blogspot.com/

http://booksurfer.blogspot.com/

http://nikita_demosthenes.blogspot.com/

http://wilsonsalmanac.blogspot.com/

http://oldfashionedpatriot.blogspot.com/

http://nimmo.blogspot.com/

http://erikhoy.blogspot.com/

http://www.suburbanguerrilla.blogspot.com/

http://tbogg.blogspot.com/

http://udoslive.blogspot.com/

http://timing.blogspot.com/

http://hypermode.blogspot.com/