There was also a story about a fire in Shenzhen that had the weibo bloggers in overdrive. It may have been connected with keeping some control over that.

I think this may all be VPN-specific. I've talked to others who haven't had any issues.

It might also be related to Nelson? He was quite famous for the d-cracy and f-dom movements.

USA VP Dick Cheney is here after stopping by JPN. Coupla weeks ago, it was USA Ambassador Gary Locke's swan song visit.

We're using AIPU (as in "I poop on internet speed" - NOT a good thing). Switching back to the evil empire (China Telecom). Traceroutes on AIPU are blackholed - they ricochet around and go nowhere - zero resolved nodes. At least CT resolves into IP addresses and occasionally domain names WITHIN 60 hops. AIPU just ricochets around in circles - which explains our seriously crappy connection speeds to BOTH domestic AND foreign web sites (not to mention DNS resolution - but that's another maligning thread).

AIPU at my buddy's apt - blistering fast - so it's hit n miss for ISPs in KM. CT is now offering fiber optic at our decrepit apt complex - no power, no water - but we've got FIBER...oooooo...

What are the benefits of using a vpn? Safer, or what? I've never missed anything on internet, i think, except for yourube and facenook everything else thats harmless works?
Oh.. bloomburg too..no loss

GFW bis working OT here in Beijing. All Google sites either no go or go very slow from hotels anyway with or without Vpthingy

@faraday
I watch TV shows on Hulu and Crunchyroll. I can't access them without. Also read the news on NY Times, Guardian, BBC etc. I also keep in contact with my friends and family via Facebook. It's a lot easier to post photos there than to send mass emails with huge attachments and a simple status update lets everyone know what I'm up to, rather than another mass email.