Google vs. China, the umpteenth episode: Once again, Gmail is inaccessible in China.
This time around, the Chinese government appears to have taken extra steps to keep China residents from using workarounds to access Google s email service. The Associated Press reports that although access to Gmail on the Web had been blocked in that country since June, Gmail users had been able to access their email via third-party clients such as Microsoft Outlook. But apparently that isn t possible at the moment.
Google and China have long had troubles. Gmail has been blocked in China before; China years ago reportedly hacked into Gmail and other Google systems; and perhaps most famously, it s been about five years since Google effectively pulled out of China s search market over censorship issues.
China has yet to comment on this latest accessibility issue, according to several reports.
Other ways China censors the Internet include bans on Facebook and Twitter, and blocking Web searches including those for Tiananmen Square and other politically sensitive terms.
