Side effects of China's Google block

[jimdagys]

It's been in the news that China has blocked all Google products ( search engine, gmail, google maps, google images, etc) for the past several weeks. However, what is not in the news is that any website that uses google products ( like google adwords, google doubleclick, etc) often won't load correctly. Here is a screenshot of Videohelp.com that is forever stuck because it is trying to load a google product ( see red circle at bottom of screenshot.) A vpn will solve this problem.
According to GreatFire.org ( website that tracks China's blocking of websites):

Unlike the websites of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and The New York Times, which are reliably blocked by the authorities, Google services are being disrupted in a way that affects about 9 out of 10 Chinese users, according to GreatFire.org. By allowing some access, “the Chinese government is trying to pin the blame on Google,” the GreatFire co-founder said.

[vhelp]

so is this the reason why i keep getting these problems loading any webpages ? because everyone uses google in the pages for something. i get these kinds of images all the time in ads and other things too. but mostly, i have to shut off my DSL modem several times a day to reset it in order for it to work properly, or else i can't surf anywhere. the image below is what comes up every day that i start my browser. every day! i wonder just how much all this nonsense with china and google effect people and their surfing activities.

[enim]

It's been in the news that China has blocked all Google products ( search engine, gmail, google maps, google images, etc) for the past several weeks. However, what is not in the news is that any website that uses google products ( like google adwords, google doubleclick, etc) often won't load correctly.

Not much aware about latest Chinese development on Google.
I would not be surprise if China bans Android platform and devices in near future like Windows 8.
Does Android pass any security & penetration test? That's the biggest Question.

Not only in China, Google is facing some troubles in Europe too.
As, The EU's advisory panel on privacy and data protection has warned Google to comply with "Privacy Policy" Europe's laws.

[enim]

As of the date, today, many websites I visit on daily basis are vulnerable to XSS. But, as a surfer I really do not care.

[nic2k4]

so is this the reason why i keep getting these problems loading any webpages ? because everyone uses google in the pages for something. i get these kinds of images all the time in ads and other things too. but mostly, i have to shut off my DSL modem several times a day to reset it in order for it to work properly, or else i can't surf anywhere. the image below is what comes up every day that i start my browser. every day! i wonder just how much all this nonsense with china and google effect people and their surfing activities.

No, your problem is more likely the result of bad network setup the "...can't be found, because the DNS lookup failed" is a dead give away. Are you behind a router? Did you modify any DNS server entries anywhere? Instead of turning off the MODEM try flushing the DNS cache next time; did that make it work?

Also, do you shutdown or hibernate the PC?

[enim]

it seems like vhelp changed Network Proxy Server's Settings.

[nic2k4]

I would not be surprise if China bans Android platform and devices in near future like Windows 8.

Not likely, the Win 8 thing is probably just pressure tactics and is basically meaningless considering how irrelevant that OS is. They're planning a home grown Linux distro as a replacement, but they had started a similar project before and it fizzled out (Red Flag OS); making your own distro from scratch is not that easy.

In the same vein they're not likely to try making their own phone OS, besides they wouldn't have to, Android is so open that all they need is their own UI on top to control everything. Firefox or Tizen wouldn't make a better OS either, both are controlled by "foreigners".

[redwudz]

As, The EU's advisory panel on privacy and data protection has warned Google to comply with "Privacy Policy" Europe's law

AFAIK, that 'Privacy Policy' is related to Google's not being '100% politically correct' according to some European sources. There are differences in the ideas of 'political freedom' in different parts of the world. I can't comment further without violating our rules. Read more about the subject.

I'm not a fan of Google, but I am a fan of internet freedom.

[MaverickTse]

Many Google services has been blocked or censored in the PRC long ago, it just tighten up further around "June 4th".
Nothing new. It happens every year

[enim]

Many Google services has been blocked or censored in the PRC long ago, it just tighten up further around "June 4th".
Nothing new. It happens every year.

China has nothing to lose without Google, as they already have QQ, Baidu, Alibaba and many other MORE popular.

[MaverickTse]

Many Google services has been blocked or censored in the PRC long ago, it just tighten up further around "June 4th".
Nothing new. It happens every year.

China has nothing to lose without Google, as they already have QQ, Baidu, Alibaba and many other MORE popular.

The government has nothing to lose, but citizens are at a great lost.
QQ and Baidu became popular because citizens have no better options available to them (except for those who know how to use VPN).

I once send an email to someone in PRC with the word "Google" in it and the email got bounced back... really sucks.

[jman98]

vhelp - The best thing you can do for yourself is to read up on how to change your DNS servers and NOT use the ones provided by your ISP. Do a search on how to do it for whatever OS you run. The two best in my opinion are
http://www.opendns.com (this main webpage has the IP addresses of their 2 open DNS servers near the top of the page)
https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/

I have AT&T as an ISP and in the past I've seen some attempts to go to websites fail because AT&T deliberately doesn't allow their IP addresses to resolve, so you can't go to them if you use AT&T for your DNS. Other ISPs do the same thing. Changing to a non-AT&T DNS server magically fixes the problem.

One final thing - DSL really sucks. Most providers are deliberately degrading it where you have to reset it every day to try to move you off of it. A lot of the big ISPs that offer connections other than just DSL offer very competitive pricing where you can actually get a faster connection for the same money or less than you are paying for DSL right now. In most cases if you have a choice of something else, there's probably not a good reason for you to stay on DSL.