BEIJING - Word leaked out slowly, spread by people with web skills on Twitter: Internet pornography once that was blocked by Chinese government censors was openly available.
"If you do not already cracking down on pornographic websites? A lot of porn sites and forums are available," wrote William Long blogger technology in their diet.
Messages like that startled the Chinese Internet, used to block the Internet from the authorities. The country has been in the middle of raids against pornography much publicity, and there has been no announcement of any change in government policy.
However, eight weeks later, porn sites are still accessible. Still unanswered are questions about whether a formal change in policy, technical failure or some kind of test by general disapproval, the Chinese Internet police.
"This has never been done with the Internet (in Chinese) before," he said in Beijing over the Internet analyst Zhao Jing, who goes by the English name Michael Anti.
Whatever the reason, the change has thrown even more what many see as the main mission of aggressive Internet censors in China: the lock sites and content that could challenge the political authority of the Communist government. Websites about human rights and dissidents are also routinely prohibited.
"Maybe they are thinking that if Internet users can view some porn, then do not pay much attention to political affairs," said Anti.
The government has not said why the porn sites were unblocked. Repeated calls to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology were left unanswered, and the Ministry of Public Security and the State Council Information Office - everyone involved in the supervision of the Web - did not respond to requests by fax to comments.
China has the largest online population of 420 million - more than the total U.S. population. While the Internet is the most irresponsible media well pampered in China, the government has the most extensive Internet police the system, technical filters that block sites based on certain words to human monitors scan bulletin boards and micro-blogging posts.
Google Inc. censorship issues led to clash publicly with China earlier this year and finally closed its search engine in China and redirect users to Hong Kong.
Tired of control, many Chinese have learned to move the "great firewall" or GFW, as the system is known.
Few Chinese will admit to surfing for porn because it is illegal. Many web sites remain inaccessible, and of these, sites that somehow evade control are often blocked in a matter of hours. But the demand is there.
"The more you restrict something, the more people pay attention," said an employee of 29 years of age in a logistics company owned who declined to be identified because surfing for porn on a business trip.
Sites that suddenly became available around the end of May include English language PornHub, YouPorn and, along with numerous sites that offer downloads of China, despite Combat and others say that the Chinese-language sites are known blocked.
Wen Yunchao, a popular blogger who writes about social issues and the Internet under the name Beifeng, said even more porn sites available in recent days, including a well-known Chinese site called "Xingba" or "Bar of sex .
"In the past, the GFW would use pornography as an" excuse for censorship, said Wen. "We are not even trying to cover up."
China society conservative attitudes about sex are changing rapidly, especially among young people, who constitute the majority of Internet users. The trial and conviction this year in southern China, a university professor who used the Internet to organize orgies sparked a debate on privacy and sexual freedom.
A survey of 900 women graduates in 17 universities in Shanghai showed that 70 percent thought that night are not immoral, and over half said they could understand if a girl became a rich man's lover, according to state media.
Shengqing Liao, a journalism professor who led the study, was quoted by the newspaper People's Daily said that "the attitudes of the students come from its respect for individual privacy. They consider sex as a private matter and respect the choices of others .
Some speculate the proliferation of social networking sites and Twitter services, such as the Great Firewall was severe, requiring the government to release some free porn sites the ability to spy others.
"I think when that GFW has not been able to block all domain names, resources be allocated to block sites or political urgency," said Long, technology blogger based in Shenzhen, and declined to give his real name in Chinese.
As part of the change, employees of the office cracks down on pornography and unauthorized publications no longer have to report porn sites based overseas to the police because of difficulties in finding Chinese government responsible for the magazine Oriental Outlook said in May. Censors only need to take into account locations, the report said.
Due to a dozen agencies regulate the Internet in China, the availability porn may be the result of a transfer of responsibilities, "said Xiao Qiang, director of the Berkeley China Internet at the University of California-Berkeley.
"The Great Firewall is not very serious to the blocking of porn sites. He was never," he said. The objectives of truth, said, include political information currently negative reports about the leaders, and all that can trigger a protest.
"That kind of information is where the focus is really the censorship," Xiao said. "Pornography, are simply not wanting to do it."(Yahoo!)
"If you do not already cracking down on pornographic websites? A lot of porn sites and forums are available," wrote William Long blogger technology in their diet.
Messages like that startled the Chinese Internet, used to block the Internet from the authorities. The country has been in the middle of raids against pornography much publicity, and there has been no announcement of any change in government policy.
However, eight weeks later, porn sites are still accessible. Still unanswered are questions about whether a formal change in policy, technical failure or some kind of test by general disapproval, the Chinese Internet police.
"This has never been done with the Internet (in Chinese) before," he said in Beijing over the Internet analyst Zhao Jing, who goes by the English name Michael Anti.
Whatever the reason, the change has thrown even more what many see as the main mission of aggressive Internet censors in China: the lock sites and content that could challenge the political authority of the Communist government. Websites about human rights and dissidents are also routinely prohibited.
"Maybe they are thinking that if Internet users can view some porn, then do not pay much attention to political affairs," said Anti.
The government has not said why the porn sites were unblocked. Repeated calls to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology were left unanswered, and the Ministry of Public Security and the State Council Information Office - everyone involved in the supervision of the Web - did not respond to requests by fax to comments.
China has the largest online population of 420 million - more than the total U.S. population. While the Internet is the most irresponsible media well pampered in China, the government has the most extensive Internet police the system, technical filters that block sites based on certain words to human monitors scan bulletin boards and micro-blogging posts.
Google Inc. censorship issues led to clash publicly with China earlier this year and finally closed its search engine in China and redirect users to Hong Kong.
Tired of control, many Chinese have learned to move the "great firewall" or GFW, as the system is known.
Few Chinese will admit to surfing for porn because it is illegal. Many web sites remain inaccessible, and of these, sites that somehow evade control are often blocked in a matter of hours. But the demand is there.
"The more you restrict something, the more people pay attention," said an employee of 29 years of age in a logistics company owned who declined to be identified because surfing for porn on a business trip.
Sites that suddenly became available around the end of May include English language PornHub, YouPorn and, along with numerous sites that offer downloads of China, despite Combat and others say that the Chinese-language sites are known blocked.
Wen Yunchao, a popular blogger who writes about social issues and the Internet under the name Beifeng, said even more porn sites available in recent days, including a well-known Chinese site called "Xingba" or "Bar of sex .
"In the past, the GFW would use pornography as an" excuse for censorship, said Wen. "We are not even trying to cover up."
China society conservative attitudes about sex are changing rapidly, especially among young people, who constitute the majority of Internet users. The trial and conviction this year in southern China, a university professor who used the Internet to organize orgies sparked a debate on privacy and sexual freedom.
A survey of 900 women graduates in 17 universities in Shanghai showed that 70 percent thought that night are not immoral, and over half said they could understand if a girl became a rich man's lover, according to state media.
Shengqing Liao, a journalism professor who led the study, was quoted by the newspaper People's Daily said that "the attitudes of the students come from its respect for individual privacy. They consider sex as a private matter and respect the choices of others .
Some speculate the proliferation of social networking sites and Twitter services, such as the Great Firewall was severe, requiring the government to release some free porn sites the ability to spy others.
"I think when that GFW has not been able to block all domain names, resources be allocated to block sites or political urgency," said Long, technology blogger based in Shenzhen, and declined to give his real name in Chinese.
As part of the change, employees of the office cracks down on pornography and unauthorized publications no longer have to report porn sites based overseas to the police because of difficulties in finding Chinese government responsible for the magazine Oriental Outlook said in May. Censors only need to take into account locations, the report said.
Due to a dozen agencies regulate the Internet in China, the availability porn may be the result of a transfer of responsibilities, "said Xiao Qiang, director of the Berkeley China Internet at the University of California-Berkeley.
"The Great Firewall is not very serious to the blocking of porn sites. He was never," he said. The objectives of truth, said, include political information currently negative reports about the leaders, and all that can trigger a protest.
"That kind of information is where the focus is really the censorship," Xiao said. "Pornography, are simply not wanting to do it."(Yahoo!)
