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Thursday, July 7, 2011

The Games Continue, Google+ Accessible From China

[UPDATE: Information below is from 2011. More recent post (January 2012) on access to Google+ and other websites in China can be found here: Not Black & White: Access in China to Amazon, Facebook, Google+, Windows Live, Yahoo! and More.

2 previous updates are at end of this post.]

At around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 6, I was able to access Google+ from Shanghai, China while using a local DNS server.  This is definitely a change from my most recent previous attempts when I could not connect (see here).  So, as of now Google+ is not blocked in China.

I should note that the first time I tried tonight I was not able to connect at all.  I then tested some of Google's other services and noticed some peculiar issues while trying to get to the US based Google Search site.  In short, I was being directed to different parts of Google after entering www.google.com, even after clearing the cookies in the Internet browser.  I'll share more on that later if it continues as I'm not sure what to make of it.

Regardless, after a period of time I was able to access Google+, even after clearing cookies.  I repeated this several times on different browsers without problem.

Was the earlier "block" just technical difficulties?  Is China's Great Firewall playing games?  Did Google complain to China and somehow convince them to "resolve" the DNS issue (see here for more links to learn more about DNS)?

I don't know.  I'll explore more later.

Added note: The Shanghaiist here earlier on Wednesday also noted that Google+ was blocked in China.  At that time...

UPDATE: Between 3-4pm on July 7, Google+ is once again "DNS-blocked" using a local DNS server in Shanghai, China.  I tested on multiple browsers in two different locations with the same results.  Again, switching to a non-Chinese DNS server resolves the problem.

UPDATE 2:  Any future updates will be placed here:  "Access to Google+ in China".

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