Bi-directional Censorship from the Great Firewall of China
{{date|May 16, 2006}}
On May 12 [[w:Radio Free Asia|Radio Free Asia]] reported some people outside [[w:China|China]] will get a "server connection has been reset" error message when they are trying to search some political keywords on [[w:Baidupedia|Baidupedia]]. However, the [[w:internet censorship|Internet censorship]] is not just on Baidupedia because it's due to the keyword filtering technology on the [[w:Great Firewall of China|Great Firewall of China]].

One of the first people to find this filtering technology was [[w:zh:方是民|Shi-Min Fang]], a biochemist with a stance against ethical lapses in China. Fang, whose site "新語絲" has been blocked by the [[w:People's Republic of China|PRC]] government for years, had found that his Chinese name cannot be searched since last August if someone outside China uses an Internet search engine that is based in China. He posted a message to his own forum. A forum visitor gave him a method to verify what he found. By randomly choosing a website URL that is in China and adding banned keywords to that URL, the server connection will be reset without displaying the normal "page does not exist" error message. Take [http://www.163.com/六四 http://www.163.com/六四] for example, if you use that URL to link to the site when you are outside China, you will find the server connection will be reset.

A Chinese Wikinews reporter, [[:zh:User:Shizhao|Shi Zhao]], also performed this test. He chose some political keywords such as "民主" ([[w:Democracy|Democracy]]), "江泽民" ([[w:Jiang Zemin|Jiang Zemin]]), "法轮功" ([[w:Falun Gong|Falun Gong]]) and asked people to search on [[w:Google|Google]], [[w:Baidu|Baidu]] and [[w:Sogou|Sogou]] (a Chinese search engine developed by [[w:Sohu|Sohu]]), and some Wikipedians from China, Taiwan and United States joined the test.

[[:zh:Talk:中國大陸外用戶訪問國內帶有敏感詞的網頁可能會被重置連接|From the test]], Chinese tester Shi Zhao found there is no problem to search such political keywords on Chinese search engines other than Google. And Taiwanese testers [[:zh:User:Htchien|H.T. Chien]], [[w:zh:User:Alexsh|Alex S.H. Lin]] and American tester [[w:zh:User:R.O.C|roc]] found they will get the "server connection has been reset" error message when they tried to search those political keywords on Chinese search engines other than Google.

From the test the testers believe that the keyword filtering technology on the Great Firewall of China is bi-directional. People outside China cannot visit any Chinese websites that have political keywords, and people in China cannot visit any websites outside China that has political keywords.

Baidupeida that went online this April is a service that provided by the Chinese Internet search company, [[w:Baidu|Baidu]], and its form is very similar to Wikipedia, which is blocked by the PRC government since last year. It would also allow users to join the editing on Baidupedia.

==Sources==
{{Original}}
*{{source|url=http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/xinwen/2006/05/12/china_internet/|title=百度百科主动切断搜寻敏感字眼的用户的连线|author=李建军|pub=RFA|date=2006年5月12日}}
*{{source|url=http://www.xys.org/forum/db/149/16.html|title=国内对敏感词的使用是双向的，国外的人也可以去体验一下|author=方舟子|pub=新语丝|date=2005年8月12日}}

{{publish}}
{{Archive-unreviewed}}
[[category:China]]
[[category:Asia]]
[[category:Crime and law]]
[[Category:Falun Gong]]
[[Category:Free speech]]
[[Category:Jiang Zemin]]

[[zh:中国大陆外用户访问国内带有敏感词的网页可能会被重置连接]]
On May 12 Radio Free Asia reported some people outside China will get a "server connection has been reset" error message when they are trying to search some political keywords on Baidupedia. However, the Internet censorship is not just on Baidupedia because it's due to the keyword filtering technology on the Great Firewall of China.

One of the first people to find this filtering technology was Shi-Min Fang, a biochemist with a stance against ethical lapses in China. Fang, whose site "新語絲" has been blocked by the PRC government for years, had found that his Chinese name cannot be searched since last August if someone outside China uses an Internet search engine that is based in China. He posted a message to his own forum. A forum visitor gave him a method to verify what he found. By randomly choosing a website URL that is in China and adding banned keywords to that URL, the server connection will be reset without displaying the normal "page does not exist" error message. Take  http://www.163.com/六四 for example, if you use that URL to link to the site when you are outside China, you will find the server connection will be reset.

A Chinese Wikinews reporter, Shi Zhao, also performed this test. He chose some political keywords such as "民主" (Democracy), "江泽民" (Jiang Zemin), "法轮功" (Falun Gong) and asked people to search on Google, Baidu and Sogou (a Chinese search engine developed by Sohu), and some Wikipedians from China, Taiwan and United States joined the test.

From the test, Chinese tester Shi Zhao found there is no problem to search such political keywords on Chinese search engines other than Google. And Taiwanese testers H.T. Chien, Alex S.H. Lin and American tester roc found they will get the "server connection has been reset" error message when they tried to search those political keywords on Chinese search engines other than Google.

From the test the testers believe that the keyword filtering technology on the Great Firewall of China is bi-directional. People outside China cannot visit any Chinese websites that have political keywords, and people in China cannot visit any websites outside China that has political keywords.

Baidupeida that went online this April is a service that provided by the Chinese Internet search company, Baidu, and its form is very similar to Wikipedia, which is blocked by the PRC government since last year. It would also allow users to join the editing on Baidupedia.

category:China
category:Asia
category:Crime and law
Falun Gong Free speech Jiang Zemin