China Blocking Access to Flickr

The restrictive Chinese government has banned users from accessing Flickr

The web site Flickr, a popular photo sharing web site owned by Yahoo, has been banned by the Chinese government. Even though Flickr has not received official word from the government over possibly being blocked, users confirmed they no longer have access to the photo sharing site. Starting last Thursday, the site became inaccessible to users in China -- and is not a technical issue caused by Yahoo.

The ban was likely put in place after images from the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre were published on Flickr, a topic made taboo by the restrictive Chinese government. Yahoo did publicly state whether the images were put online by a Chinese resident or someone outside of the country.

"It is our understanding that Flickr users in China are not able to see images on Flickr, and we have confirmed that this is not a technical issue on our end," a Yahoo Hong Kong spokesperson said in an e-mail to Reuters.

It was not long before workarounds for the ban were published on the Internet. There are several possible methods users can utilize to get around the ban while Yahoo works to get the ban lifted.

Along with banning certain web sites in the past, the Chinese government is known for forcing Internet sites like Yahoo and Google to adhere to various forms of Internet censorship. Human rights organizations also frowned upon a prior decision by Yahoo to turn over information on members' activities on the Internet.
Reference:Michael Hoffman,dailytech