I am finally moving the blog onto a non-blocked server. Expect something before Halloween. Until then, with both feedreader and blogspot on the wrong side of the GFW, I’ve had to take counter-measures.
I tricked the Chinese site feedsky into publishing my feed by anonymousing my blogspot feed. You can access that feed stream here:
http://feed.feedsky.com/granitestudio
Not sure how long that will hold up, but it’s working as of right now.
I’ve also had luck accessing the feed using anonymouse and this feed:
http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://granitestudio.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
Thanks to those of you who have stuck with the blog whilst the nanny has her day.
I know I’m belaboring an old point, but even with big buildings and highways choked with cars, can you really consider yourself a modern, developed nation if you need to go to such great lengths to block information from your own citizens? If China really is a strong nation–ready to take its place in the company of the world’s powers–then what is the government so afraid of? Is the CCP so weak that it can really be brought down by a few blogs, a feedreader, and the BBC? Just what are China’s leaders so afraid of?
And yes. I’m being sarcastic.
6 responses so far ↓
1 無名 - wu ming // Oct 8, 2007 at 2:34 am
um, using technology to control the information of one’s citizens is quite possibly a salient feature of modernity. the rise of mass media and the rise of modern propaganda were inextricably linked, as they depend on the same technology as well as the same basic pyramidal power structure.
not that it makes the great firewall (or is it the great panopticon?) any less irritating.
with any luck, the decentralized structure of the internet will give us a great leap backwards, into the premodern structure of zillions of small family woodblock presses (be they colonial american or fujianese mashaben), bane of tyrants, busybodies, and IP attorneys alike.
2 Leah // Oct 8, 2007 at 4:11 am
This doesn’t do anything in the way of enabling one’s own blog to be read from behind the GFW, but Google Reader is a good way for those of us under the Web Nanny’s glare to access blocked sites.
With GR you can subscribe not only to blogs, but also to feed-enabled news sites, including the BBC… Unfortunately, the BBC only provides a limited character feed (you get the headline plus the first sentence) before you’re supposed to retrieve the rest of the article from their website.
For those who haven’t yet tried it, it’s very simple to use and a handy way to skirt the Wall much of the time.
3 花崗齋之愚公 // Oct 8, 2007 at 4:32 am
Leah,
Good tip about Google Reader. I’ve used that before too.
4 花崗齋之愚公 // Oct 8, 2007 at 4:33 am
Wu Ming,
Not to open a HUGE can of worms, but I guess it depends on your definition of modernity, progress et. al.
To put it another way, I don’t think too many Beijingers, when pointing to signs of their modernity, cite advanced blocking software as one of their points of pride.
But your point about the connection between mass media/modern propaganda is well said.
5 Alex // Oct 11, 2007 at 2:28 am
Good stuff. BTW Fili has published a story on how to move from Blogger to an independent domain without losing search rankings, old viewers, etc.
http://www.filination.com/tech/2007/10/10/moving-from-blogger-blogspot-to-wordpress-the-right-way-301-redirect/
6 花崗齋之愚公 // Oct 11, 2007 at 2:54 am
Alex,
Thanks for stopping by and for the link to Fili’s site. I am embarking on a month-long migration of this site over to its own domain name. Hopefully I can use some of the tips in Fili’s post to make that transition a smooth one.
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