China Blocks Access to All Language Editions of Wikipedia

[Arabi]

Observers speculate the blockade may have something to do with the upcoming 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, which occurred on June 4, 1989.

China appears to be blocking all access to Wikipedia after previously only censoring the Chinese-language editions of the online encyclopedia.

The blocking started last month, according to an internet monitoring service operated by the Tor Project. Attempting to access any Wikipedia page from within the country, no matter the language, will now trigger a connection error.

A separate censorship monitoring group, Greatfire.org, says China has blocked access to Wikipedia since April 22. Local users on Chinese social media platforms say they've also been "walled" from the site.

It's unclear why the Chinese government has blocked the sites. But observers speculate it may be related to the upcoming 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, which occurred on June 4, 1989. The country's government has generally banned all discussion of the event, which resulted in the Chinese authorities using military force to squash a pro-democracy movement led by students.

It's possible the blocking may only be temporary. In January, China mysteriously blocked and then ublocked Microsoft's Bing search engine.

Over the years, the country has selectively blocked certain pages on Wikipedia that have been critical of its Communist-led government. However, in 2015, China began blocking all access to the Mandarin-language pages of Wikipedia after the encyclopedia site moved to HTTPS encryption by default in order to protect users from unwarranted surveillance.


So far, the Wikimedia Foundation hasn't commented on the blocking. To access a censored website from within China, users can install a VPN service, which will allow them to connect to the internet over a server based outside the country. In response, China has tried to crack down on VPN use with the threat of fines against anyone caught using unauthorized VPN services.

PCMAG

We all should take a moment and remember those brave victims who protested in the Tiananmen Square in 1989.

 

[CHN Bamboo]

You might as well say it's in memory of the Wenchuan earthquake.
At least a little closer to the day it's banned.

Anyway, it's something that few Chinese use and owned by the US.
All US websites should be banned in China.

 

[TaiShang]

Saudi complaining about Wikipedia's future

Jamal Khashoggi - Wikipedia must be reeling in his grave

You might as well say it's in memory of the Wenchuan earthquake.
At least a little closer to the day it's banned.

Anyway, it's something that few Chinese use and owned by the US.
All US websites should be banned in China.

Well done.

It is heavily dominated by Indians, after all, with lots of free time.

 

[Crusher]

Wikipedia has become a free propaganda tool for indians particularly of RSS/BJP fundamentalist and nationalist types, nothing on wikipedia is credible these days. All pakistan related pages have atrocious statements all written by indian editros probably the situation is same with china related pages too. And the worst thing is that if you try to correct anything on pakistan related pages, your edits are automatically deleted because all the so-called established "credible" and "volunteer" editors for most of pakistan related pages are indians. I mean can it get more ridiculous than that but that is how the Wikipedia is functioning since long long time. So a good decision by china, pakistan should also do the same.

 

[TaiShang]

Wikipedia has become propaganda tool of indians, nothing on wikipedia is credible these days. All pakistan related pages have atrocious statements all written by indians probably the situation is same with china related pages too. So a good decision by china, pakistan should also do the same.

Couple of countries did that, I believe.

Anyways, I did not see anybody using Wikipedia in Mainland China. It is not an academic source, after all.

But Indians and Middle Eastern people like it.

 

[Mamadouso]

Couple of countries did that, I believe.

Anyways, I did not see anybody using Wikipedia in Mainland China. It is not an academic source, after all.

But Indians and Middle Eastern people like it.

One thing I also noticed was there are way too many pages about India on Wikipedia. There is a page for everything down to the type of shoe that is worn by the leader of an Indian State. It is totally propagandised.

 

[Menthol]

Years ago USA was also complaining about Wikipedia.

They say the content doesn't reflect USA government narrative.

That is why they changed all the contents and locked to only handful of USA government trusted people to able to edit it.

 

[大汉奸柳传志]

One thing I also noticed was there are way too many pages about India on Wikipedia. There is a page for everything down to the type of shoe that is worn by the leader of an Indian State. It is totally propagandised.

Indians dominat many English sites now... the Anglosphere had it coming when their ancestors decided to teach Indians English

 

[Mamadouso]

Indians dominat many English sites now... the Anglosphere had it coming when their ancestors decided to teach Indians English

But the quality of the pages are now awful. Even 10 years ago Wikipedia was a fairly useful reference for basic information but now the Indian have filled it with rubbish.

They can type in English but do a very poor effort with it.

 

[Beast]

Observers speculate the blockade may have something to do with the upcoming 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, which occurred on June 4, 1989.

China appears to be blocking all access to Wikipedia after previously only censoring the Chinese-language editions of the online encyclopedia.

The blocking started last month, according to an internet monitoring service operated by the Tor Project. Attempting to access any Wikipedia page from within the country, no matter the language, will now trigger a connection error.

A separate censorship monitoring group, Greatfire.org, says China has blocked access to Wikipedia since April 22. Local users on Chinese social media platforms say they've also been "walled" from the site.

It's unclear why the Chinese government has blocked the sites. But observers speculate it may be related to the upcoming 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, which occurred on June 4, 1989. The country's government has generally banned all discussion of the event, which resulted in the Chinese authorities using military force to squash a pro-democracy movement led by students.

It's possible the blocking may only be temporary. In January, China mysteriously blocked and then ublocked Microsoft's Bing search engine.

Over the years, the country has selectively blocked certain pages on Wikipedia that have been critical of its Communist-led government. However, in 2015, China began blocking all access to the Mandarin-language pages of Wikipedia after the encyclopedia site moved to HTTPS encryption by default in order to protect users from unwarranted surveillance.


So far, the Wikimedia Foundation hasn't commented on the blocking. To access a censored website from within China, users can install a VPN service, which will allow them to connect to the internet over a server based outside the country. In response, China has tried to crack down on VPN use with the threat of fines against anyone caught using unauthorized VPN services.

PCMAG

We all should take a moment and remember those brave victims who protested in the Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Saudi play hero for US? US Trump spare your MBS and I think you shall return the favour. Well done.

https://www.cnn.com/cnn/2018/11/20/politics/trump-saudi-arabia/index.html

Trump signals US won't punish Saudi crown prince over Khashoggi killing

If those student at tianamen were hero. Khashoggi shall be saint to Saudi to rid of these evil MBS together with US.