China Web filters falter

BEIJING – Web users reported an outage of China’s strict Internet controls, known as the Great Firewall, for several hours Monday morning, allowing them brief access to banned Web sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Cautious excitement spread on some social-networking platforms as hope flared that Internet freedoms suddenly were being expanded after months of intensifying scrutiny.

“It’s finally unblocked, reasons unknown,” wrote a blogger named EFanZh. “I hope nothing gets blocked anymore. I can’t take it any longer.”

But by the time many woke up, strict restrictions had returned. Error messages once again flashed across computer screens for sites blocked by the nation’s censorship filter.

Rumors abounded that the outage was due to maintenance work administered by Internet provider China Unicom. Others believed it had something to do with the heavy snow that blanketed northern China over the weekend.

China Unicom did not respond to requests for an interview, nor did Chinese officials overseeing online security. It was unclear if all of China experienced the outage or just some regions.

It is unclear what sort of effect the firewall’s outage had. Most of the commentary online was found on Twitter, whose users generally know how to scale the firewall using proxy servers. They are not representative of the mainstream Chinese online community, whom censors are most concerned with.

Chen Nan, a webmaster in Beijing for an IT Web site, said he became aware of the outage late at night when he saw the spike in activity on Twitter. Though he enjoyed the jaunt, he was ultimately too pessimistic to believe the sudden brush with freedom would last.

He said “there’s no way” sensitive sites would be allowed in China.

“But within these few hours, there were a few bricks missing from the Great Firewall, and we were able to see the outside world through these holes.”