China Blocks YouTube, Google Tries to Reinstate Access

[ClearedHot]

On Monday, traffic from China to YouTube began dwindling until it dried up nearly completely today, due to a site-wide block of the popular video sharing site in that country.

Google says it has no idea why it's being blocked. China has demonstrated the ability to block access only to certain YouTube URLs as part of its ongoing censorship of the internet, so this site-wide ban represents a significant change in strategy.

"We do not know the reason for the blockage," a Google spokesman told Wired.com, "and we're working as quickly as possible to restore access to our users in China." However, he did not specify what those steps might be.

It's possible that one of the thousands of workers responsible for censoring the internet in China was overzealous in blocking the entire site instead of individual videos. Or perhaps something on YouTube made the Chinese government more upset than previous YouTube videos had done. Either way, all of YouTube is now blocked in China.

Some speculate that officials could be upset about footage of Chinese soldiers beating Tibetans appearing on the site.

Another possible reason for the blockade is the US Navy's recent release of videos depicting five Chinese ships apparently trying to snag a Sonar array cable trailing behind the USNS Impeccable, which appeared on YouTube. The U.S. Navy's official version of events, issued March 8, was that "Impeccable was conducting routine survey operations in international waters 75 miles south of Hainan Island when it was harassed by five Chinese vessels." The Chinese disagreed on March 13: "The story of the U.S. side is totally untrue and unacceptable."

Whatever the reason, Chinese citizens no longer have access to any of the videos of YouTube. China's foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters on Tuesday, "China's internet is open enough, but also needs to be regulated by law in order to prevent the spread of harmful information and for national security."

Apparently, that "harmful information" includes laughing Wii baby, Chocolate Rain, our SXSW video coverage, and everything else on YouTube.

[Vertigo]

This is probably related to your other post regarding the USNS Impeccable incident.