Google’s Gmail was blocked in China after months of disruptions to the
world’s biggest email service, with an anti-censorship advocate suggesting the
Great Firewall was to blame.
Large numbers of Gmail web addresses were cut off in China on Friday, said
GreatFire.org, a China-based freedom of speech advocacy group. Users said the
service was still down on Monday.
“I think the government is just trying to further eliminate Google’s presence
in China and even weaken its market overseas,” said a member of GreatFire.org,
who uses a pseudonym.
“Imagine if Gmail users might not get through to Chinese clients. Many
people outside China might be forced to switch away from Gmail.”
Google’s own Transparency Report, which shows real-time traffic to Google
services, displayed a sharp drop-off in traffic to Gmail from China on Friday.
“We’ve checked and there’s nothing wrong on our end,” a Singapore-based
spokesman for Google said in an email.
Almost all of Google’s services have been heavily disrupted in China since
June this year, but until last week Gmail users could still access emails
downloaded via protocols like IMAP, SMTP and POP3. These had let people
communicate using Gmail on apps like the Apple iPhone’s Mail and Microsoft
Outlook.
China maintains tight control over the internet, nipping in the bud any
signs of dissent or challenges to the ruling Communist Party’s leadership.
The country is host to the world’s most sophisticated internet censorship
mechanism, known as the Great Firewall of China. Critics say China has stepped
up its disruption of foreign online services like Google over the past year to
create an internet cut off from the rest of the world.
The Google disruption began in the run-up to the 25th anniversary of the
government’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing’s
Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.
Gmail’s setback could make email communication difficult for companies
operating in China which use Google’s Gmail for their corporate email system,
said GreatFire.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she did not know
anything about Gmail being blocked, adding that the government was committed to
providing a good business environment for foreign investors.
“China has consistently had a welcoming and supportive attitude towards
foreign investors doing legitimate business here,” she said. “We will, as
always, provide an open, transparent and good environment for foreign companies
in China.”
One popular way for companies and people to get around China’s internet
censorship is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) which allows unhindered
access to blocked sites and services.
“It’s becoming harder and harder to connect and do work in China when services
like Gmail are being blocked,” said Zach Smith, a Beijing-based digital
products manager at City Weekend magazine. “Using a VPN seems to be the only
answer to doing anything these days online in China.”
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