Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/cyber-activists-find-weak-spot-in-chinas-internet-censorship-apparatus Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Cyber-activists find weak spot in China’s internet censorship apparatus Nation Nov 18, 2013 10:48 AM EST AFP/Getty Images China’s ban on Wall Street Journal and Reuter’s Chinese-language sites Friday prompted activists to find a weak spot in China’s expansive internet censorship system, the Guardian reports. The two sites were blocked after publishing a New York Times expose on business ties between the daughter of former Premier Wen Jiabao and JP Morgan. Both the New York Times English and Chinese-language sites have been blocked since 2012. Charlie Smith, the co-founder of GreatFire.org, a website that monitors internet censorship in China, said these sites are now accessible after replicas of them were created and hosted on servers that could not be blocked without severely disrupting internet traffic. “We’re serving these mirror sites through companies like Amazon,” Smith said. “For them to block these mirror sites, they’re going to have to take down Amazon web servers in China, and that would affect thousands of services in China, maybe tens of thousands,” he said. H/T Cindy Huang A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue. Donate now
AFP/Getty Images China’s ban on Wall Street Journal and Reuter’s Chinese-language sites Friday prompted activists to find a weak spot in China’s expansive internet censorship system, the Guardian reports. The two sites were blocked after publishing a New York Times expose on business ties between the daughter of former Premier Wen Jiabao and JP Morgan. Both the New York Times English and Chinese-language sites have been blocked since 2012. Charlie Smith, the co-founder of GreatFire.org, a website that monitors internet censorship in China, said these sites are now accessible after replicas of them were created and hosted on servers that could not be blocked without severely disrupting internet traffic. “We’re serving these mirror sites through companies like Amazon,” Smith said. “For them to block these mirror sites, they’re going to have to take down Amazon web servers in China, and that would affect thousands of services in China, maybe tens of thousands,” he said. H/T Cindy Huang A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue. Donate now