Youtube is Blocked!

I noticed something odd when I tried to watch a harmless music video. When I switched to my browser that was running out of Germany (a country full of the most responsible netizens you can find), I had no problem accessing Youtube, which means it was blocked. Apparently the reason for the blockage is this video of Chinese soldiers beating the hell out of Tibetans last year. Xinhua has reported that the video is faked by the Dalai Lama, a/k/a the Tibetan John Carpenter. Obviously a fake video is a threat to internal stability. To be perfectly honest, this video wouldn't convert a single Chinese person to the Dalai Lama's cause even if it were run on a non-stop loop on Chinese Central TV for days on end. You don't stay in power for 60 years without being cautious.

The Great Firewall gets a lot of publicity outside of China, and most Chinese internet users are aware of its existence. Surprisingly, it's very easy to circumvent, but that's not the point. This site teaches you (in Chinese!) how to jump the wall and rock on in the free world (at least online). This site is not blocked. So what's the point? According to James Fallows of the Atlantic (annual subscription for under 50 bucks, do it now!), as long as the government makes it slightly difficult to get to that information, only people with a bone to pick with the government already will bother to hop over the firewall and bathe in the soothing, unfiltered waters of freedom.

I agree with Fallows's conclusion, but would also add that the internet has created much more access to information than the government would like and people like all the Chinese blogs on my blogroll routinely criticize the government online without being blocked or facing retribution. (That much cannot be said for Zan Aizong, whose blog is blocked and he is prevented from leaving the country.)

Currently Ai Weiwei, former artist and now full-time activist, is roiling the government over its negligence in building supervision of Sichuan schools that collapsed killing thousands of students.

I think in the end the Great Firewall, like the Great Wall itself will fail. People won't put up with it forever. The only question is: "when?"